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THE 



HISTOKY OF PEOKIA, 



ILLINOIS. 



BY C. BALLANCE 
it 



PEORIA, ILL. : 

PRINTED BY N. C. NASOX, 1 3 5 S. WASHINGTON STREET. 
1870. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

BY CHARLES BALLINGS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Northern District of Illinois. 






V 






CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE. 

Geographical position of Peoria and its vicinity, . . 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Early history of Peoria, 5 

CHAPTER III. 

The subject continued. La Salle, Hennepin, and Tonti, . 7 

CHAPTER IV. 

The subject continued — particularly with regard to the Abo- 
rigines, 11 

CHAPTER V. 

Ancient French population, 18 

CHAPTER VI. 

The subject continued. Coles's Report, . . . . 21 

CHAPTER VII. 

Ancient Fortifications, 25 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Indian War. Gov. Edwards and Capt. Craig, ... 28 

CHAPTER IX. 
The subject continued. Gov. Reynolds's account of it, . 32 

CHAPTER X. 

The subject continued. The erection and destruction of Fort 
Clark, 40 



IV CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XI. page. 

The first American settlements at Peoria, .... 44 

CHAPTER XII. 

State of Illinois and sundry Counties (including Peoria) organ- 
ized, 49 

CHAPTER XIII. 

County Commissioners' Court and Board of Supervisors, 53 

CHAPTER XIV. 
First Circuit Court. Trial of Nornaquc, .... 59 

CHAPTER XV. 

The subject continued. Judge Young, Ford, etc., . . 62 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Organization of the Town of Peoria, .... G6 

CHAPTER XVII. 

City Organization, Taxation, etc., 69 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Public Buildings, 80 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Schools by Individuals and Companies, .... 84 

CHAPTER XX. 
The present School System, commonly called Free Schools, 92 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Churches and Religious Societies, 100 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Manufactures. Foundries and Machine-Shops, . . 119 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
The subject continued. Blacksmiths and Plowmakers, . 123 



CONTENTS. V 

CHAPTER XXIV. PAGE. 

The subject continued. Mills, 127 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The subject continued. Distilleries, 135 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The subject continued. Miscellaneous Manufactures, . 141 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Railroads, 147 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Lights, 153 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Boating, . 155 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Shade-Trees, Fruit-Trees, and small Fruits, . . . 162 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Water and Water- Works, 166 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Coal, Stone, and Minerals, 172 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Ferries and Bridges, 179 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Newspapers. Job Offices. Book-binderies. Death of Pickett 
and Kirkpatrick, etc., 187 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

French Claim Controversy, 193 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Population at different times, 199 



VI CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. PAGE. 

Old Settlers' Society, 205 

CHAPTER XXXVI I r. 

Commerce of Peoria, 210 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The Fauna of Peoria and vicinity, 217 

CHAPTER XL. 

The Flora of Peoria and vicinity, 223 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Physicians, 227 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Lawyers, . . . 231 

CHAPTER XLII I. 

The subject continued. John L. Bogardus, . . . 239 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

The subject continued. Gov. Ford, 249 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Banking Facilities, 256 



PREFACE. 



Every one admits the "benefit of history. But of what advant- 
age is history without truth ; and yet how common is the express- 
ion that the time has not come for writing the history of such a 
one, or of such a Avar; implying that during the life of persons im- 
plicated in a wrong it will not do to detail that wrong. Then when 
will it do? If those who live at the time of a transaction dare not 
write a history of it, how will those who live afterward know of it ? 
How can a man write a histoiy of that which took place before he 
was born, if no account of it has been handed down to his time. 

The practice now is, and public opinion seems to sustain the 
practice, to send every man who dies directly to the regions of 
eternal bliss, leaving none but the living as fit subjects of his Sa- 
tanic Majesty. When a man dies by the halter, he, with a priest 
at his elbow to keep up his courage and his confidence, rejoices in 
the certain prospect of going immediately to the arms of Jesus, 
who stands ready to receive his guilty soul; and every man who 
dies a natural death, however great a rascal he may have been, is 
represented as having been a paragon of virtue. All his virtues, 
if he had any, are paraded in the newspapers, or, if he had none, 
virtues in abundance are attributed to him ; and all his vices are 
ignored. And should any man object to this course, he would be 
told we "should never speak evil of the dead." 

Had this been the doctrine of the authors of the Scriptures, we 
would to this day have remained ignorant of the important fact that 
Mr. Samson was an old libertine, and that Miss Delilah was any 
thing but a modest maiden. Nor would we now be aware of the 
more important fact that the man who, at one time, was 'a man 
after God's own heart', was at another time peeping into the 
garden at a beautiful woman, whose raiment, all told, was less than 
that of the woman Maj. Powell saw on the Colorado, to wit, a 
string of beads. Nor of the much more important fact that the old 
rascal had the husband of that woman killed, 'that he might pos- 
sess the ewe-lamb ' without annoyance. Nor would the still greater 
fact have come down to this generation that, even in that day, 
there was one who had dared, with reference to the doer of this 
great iniquity, to say unto David "Thou art the man." 

All history should be true. But little good can be derived from 



VIII PREFACE. 



that which is not. He who portrays a man's virtues and sup- 
presses his vices is morally guilty of falsehood ; for he who be- 
lieves the narrative believes that the subject of it was a good man, 
whereas his vices, if brought to view, would much modify his vir- 
tues, or, perhaps, entirely obscure them. Yet something is due to 
public opinion and a man's comfort. Public opinion would hard- 
ly, at this age, bear with a man's telling the whole truth with re- 
gard to the actors in earth's busy scenes; and I might essentially 
impair my comfort, when business brings me in contact with the 
descendants of our early settlers, should I remember to have said 
something derogatory of their ancestors. 

I, therefore, have taken a medium course; and, while I have 
been careful to say nothing of any one that is not true, I have 
refrained from saying many things that were true, lest I might 
offend the descendants of those persons. It is exceeding difficult 
to pursue a proper course in this matter ; and I think it likely that 
my course will be censured, and probably justly censured. If a 
little censure is all, I will submit to it as patiently as Hume sub- 
mitted to a world of clamor raised against him for having exposed 
a few of the villainies of two of the worst potentates that ever 
ruled on this terrestrial ball — Henry the Eighth, and his daughter 
Queen Elizabeth. 

This little book has been written in the most inclement season 
of the year, at a time when the state of 1113- health made it hazard- 
ous to be much exposed to the weather, and I found but few who 
seemed inclined to aid me in my statistics; and, although I have 
taken pains to be correct, I have no doubt many errors may be 
found in the work. To the candid inquirer after truth I would 
say, note any errors you meet with, and send me a list, and if an- 
other edition be called for, I will cheerfully correct them. If any 
one shall think I have said any thing untrue about himself or an- 
cestor, and will make it appear, I will correct it in the next edition, 
or, should there not !>;• another edition, I will correct it in a public 
newspaper. Bu1 should any one, without resorting to this manly 
course, abuse me for saying things that are true, I pledge myself 
to show to the world that the half has not been told. There are 
some characters referred to in these pages about whom I would 
have said a good deal more, but for the regard I had for their 
descendants. C. BALLANCE. 

Teoria, February Tin, 1ST0. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION OF PEORIA. 

If you wish to see where Peoria is, place yourself in 
front of any large map of the United States; raise your 
eyes as far north as Lake Michigan. Near its westerly 
shore, in the State of Wisconsin, you j>erceive several 
small streams, which, running a southerly course, unite 
and form the little river Desplaines. Turn your eyes to 
the right, and you will see, near the south end of Lake 
Michigan, in the State of Indiana, many small streams, 
and a great swamp, which form the Kankakee river. 
This river, as you perceive, runs into the State of Illinois, 
and mingles its waters with those of the Desplaines, and 
from their union to the confluence with the Mississippi 
river their united waters bear the name of the Illinois. 
Follow this stream from its head to its mouth, and you 
see a great many smaller streams which pour their waters 
into it, so that it becomes a large river. 

Now again raise your eyes to the lake, and you will 
see a canal, extending from Chicago, on Lake Michigan, 
1 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



to Lasalle, on the Illinois river. At the latter place a fine 
basin has been formed for the reception of canal-boats 
and steamboats. From this basin to St. Louis there are 
no rocks, nor 'sawyers', nor other impediments to navi- 
gation, except in very cold weather from ice, and occa- 
sionally in a very dry fall there fails to be water enough. 
This river and canal give direct communication be- 
tween St. Louis and Chicago (two of the most flourishing 
cities in America), and through them with all the world. 
About half way between these famous cities, you perceive 
an expansion in the Illinois river, about twenty miles 
long, called Lake Peoria. At the lower end of this ex- 
pansion, on the southwest side, you perceive a number 
of railroads concentrate. At this point drive a stake, 
and append to it a line a hundred miles long, and strike 
a circle two hundred miles in diameter, and you will in- 
close more first-rate arable land, and less land unfit for 
cultivation, than you would by striking a circle, of the 
same diameter, any where else on the face of the globe. 
At this spot, in 40 deg. 40 min. north latitude, and 12 deg. 
40 min. west longitude from Washington, stands the 
beautiful City of Peoria. And here might the poet well 
exclaim, 

"Where Nature's God, in forming earth of naught, 
Performed the last of all the works he wrought, 
There stands Peoria, there in beauty shines 
The fairest town-site on this earth's confines ; 
Like some great architect, for skill renowned. 
Whose works of art do eveiy where abound, 
All which are good, but that performed the last 
Outvies the rest, and can not be surpassed." 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 3 



The river is placid and, except during freshets, clear. 
The whole town-plat is free from inundation. From the 
river to the bluff (about three-fourths of a mile) the soil 
is a sandy loam, and consequently generally dry and free 
from mud. The front of the bluff is mostly composed of 
pebble, but on and beyond the bluff the soil is rich loam, 
based on yellow clay. The land rises gradually from the 
water's edge until it attains an elevation of about seventy 
feet; but it recedes again considerably before reaching 
the bluff, so as to make the elevation appear considera- 
bly greater than it really is. From the top of this bluff, 
or rather from the top of a house on it, a scene of exceed- 
ing beauty is presented. All the houses in the city, 
residences, stores, churches, factories, etc., as well as the 
river and lake and hills beyond, may be seen from one 
spot. 

In Mr. Parkman\s 'Discovery of the Great West ', page 
156, in note, he says, in speaking of Utica, "This is the 
only part of the river-bottom, from this point to the Mis- 
sissippi, not liable to inundation in the floods." If by 
'river-bottoms' he means alluvial lands, this is a great 
mistake. The town-sites of Hennepin, Henry, Lacon, 
Chillicothe, Rome, Peoria, Pekin, Havana, Bath, Beards- 
town and Meredosia are all alluvial lands, and free from 
inundation. 

From the description given of Lake Peoria, its width 
is generally supposed to be greater than it is. It is gen- 
erally described as being twenty miles long, and from 
two to three miles wide. This will do pretty well for a 
high-water description, but not for a low-water one. In 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



low water, opposite the foot of Main street, it is only 
about a half-mile and twenty-one rods wide. It be- 
comes a little wider two miles up ; but at about four miles 
up are the Narrows, a point of land subject, it is true, to 
inundation, but for the most of the year making of one 
lake two lakes. Above the Narrows the lake becomes 
wider, — at some places, perhaps, a mile wide. Opposite 
Chillicothe there is a long island, immediately above 
which the river becomes compressed into its usual width. 
This lake formerly abounded in fish, ducks and geese, 
beyond any place I ever saw; but the fish have been 
greatly diminished and the ducks and geese have nearly 
disappeared. In early times swans, brants and cranes 
were also tolerably plenty, but now I seldom see one; 
especially, the beautiful white crane, which makes a 
handsome pet, I think has entirely disappeared. 

The hills in the vicinity contain an inexhaustible sup- 
ply of coal, and wood for fuel is abundant. Food can be 
concentrated here in greater quantities, and at lower 
prices, than at most places : consequently here should be 
a great manufacturing city. And this should be the 
granary of all this region. Here should be concentrated, 
through the winter, all the grain of this immensely fer- 
tile region, to be transported in the spring, east, west, 
north, or south, according to the exigency of trade. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER II. 



EARLY HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



So much, by way of introduction, for the geography of 
Peoria. Now for its history. And here I find, as Mr. 
Lincoln said of the rebellion, I have 'a big job on hand': 
not big because of the difficulty of arranging materials so 
extensive and voluminous, but big because of the diffi- 
culty of composing a readable history out of materials 
so very scant. Had I 'the organ of marvelousness 
strongly developed', I might, like the Roman, Chinese 
and Hindoo historians, grope into the dark ages of antiq- 
uity, and gather up the absurd, and often impossible, 
traditions of the ancestors of our Indians, concerning 
their Wars and their miracles, and the dealings of the 
Great Spirit with them ; or gravely quote from the Book 
of Mormon, concerning the wars and. wanderings of the 
ten lost tribes ; or I might, in imitation of this fast age, 
dig into some mound, or stroll into some of the many cel- 
lars being dug, in Peoria, and gather up some fragments of 
human bones, beads — perhaps a copper coin, or some 
scraps of porcelain, or of a broken whisky-jug, as evi- 
dence 'strong as proofs from Holy Writ' that, in untold 
ages, a highly-civilized people had inhabited this beauti- 
ful place. Or I might run mad searching for some 
Rosetta Stone, that would reveal the wonders of those 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



times. But the trouble about this business is, I have not 
the organ of marvelousness very well developed. lean 
not believe without evidence; and should some evidence 
be produced in favor of a proposition, I would still not 
believe it, as long as better evidence was at hand to 
counteract it. 

I therefore commence my history of Peoria only about 
196 years ago, the date of the arrival of the first white 
man at this place. But about this we know but little. It 
is said that Father Marquette, on the 10th of June, 
1673, accompanied by a gentleman from Canada by the 
name of Joliet, five Frenchmen, and two Algonquin 
Indians, as guides, passed from Green Bay across to the 
Mississippi river, by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, ami, 
after having descended the Mississippi as far down as 
the mouth of the Arkansas, ascended by way of the Illi- 
nois to Lake Michigan, and part of them to Canada; but 
the object of Joliet being merely to ascertain whether 
the Mississippi entered into the Pacific Ocean or the 
Gulf of Mexico, he returned as soon as he ascertained 
that fact, by the easiest route ; and it being the sole ob- 
ject of Marquette to preach to the Indians, and neither of 
them desiring to plant a colony, they probably kept a 
very meagre journal respecting this country, and what 
they did keep was lost, so that the world was but little 
benefited by their discoveries. 

Marquette was a religious enthusiast, a devotee, per- 
haps I might say a misanthrope. lie would not go home, 
but preached to the Indians about the head of Lake Michi- 
gan, for two years. For some reason, after he had 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



preached in that region for about that time, he went 
about three hundred miles north, and entered a little 
river, in the now State of Michigan, not far from Macki- 
naw, which river has since been called by his name. On 
its bank he erected a rude altar, and, prevailing on the 
canoe-men who accompanied him to leave him alone, he 
said mass according to the rites of the Catholic church, 
of which he was a priest, and prayed and died. After 
his fellow travelers had given him sufficient time for his 
devotions, as they supposed, they returned and found 
him dead, and buried him in the sand, where he had died. 
The cause of his death is not known. He had probably 
lived as long as life was desirable. 

Either of those men might have been of great service 
to the world, by carefully describing this country and its 
inhabitants, and then preserving their journal; but we 
have nothing from them but the great truth that the 
Mississippi does not run into the Pacific Ocean ! and that 
Illinois is a rich country. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. LASALLE, HENNEPIN, AND TONTI. 

The next visit made to Peoria by civilized men was 
seven years after Marquette and Joliet had passed, when 
Mr. La Salle, accompanied by Hennepin, a Franciscan 



8 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



monk, and Tonti, an Italian military character, visited the 
place. Upon the veracity of Hennepin alone we rely for 
an account of that hazardous adventure, for I know of no 
account of that voyage but that kept by Hennepin. He 
says: "This day [Jan. 1, 1680] we went through a lake, 
formed by the river, about seven leagues long and one 
broad. The savages call that place Pimiteoui; that is, 
in their language, a place where there is abundance of 
fat beasts. When the river of the Illinois freezes, which 
is but seldom, it freezes only to this lake, and never from 
thence to the Meschasipi, into which this river falls. 
We found ourselves, on a sudden, in their camp, which 
took uj3 the two sides of the river. M. de La Salle 
ordered his men immediately to make their arms ready, 
and brought his canoes on a line, placing himself to the 
right, and M. Tonti to the left; so that we took almost 
the whole breadth of the river. The Illinois, who had 
not discovered our fleet [of eight canoes] were very 
much surprised to see us coming so swiftly upon them ; 
for the stream is very rapid at that place. Some ran for 
their arms, but the most of them took to flight, with 
horrid cries and howlino;s. 

"The current brought us, in the mean time, to their 
camp, and M. La Salle went the very first ashore, fol- 
lowed by his men, which increased the consternation of 
the savages, whom we might have easily defeated; but, 
as it was not our design, we made a halt to give them 
time to recover themselves, and see that we were no 
enemies. M. La Salle might have prevented their con- 
fusion by showing his calumet, or pipe of peace; but he 
was afraid the savages would inpute it to our weakness." 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 9 

La Salle had much trouble, while at this place, both 
with the savages and with his men. Both seem to have 
been treacherous ; and, to cap the climax of his woes, he 
ascertained that a vessel called the Griffin, freighted with 
furs, in which he had invested nearly every thing he was 
worth and perhaps more, had been lost on its way down 
the lakes to Montreal. Under these circumstances, he 
built a fort to protect what he had with him, while he 
would return to Canada for more men and supplies. As 
a memento of his trouble, he called the fort Creve- Coeu?', 
which in French means broken heart. 

La Salle went back to Canada for men and supplies to 
carry out his enterprises. But, the Indians becoming 
hostile, Tonti left that part of the country, and fled to 
Green Bay, and took shelter under the Indians in that 
region; so that when La Salle returned, in the next 
spring, he found Fort Creve-Cceur entirely abandoned. 
Nor do I find that it was ever after occupied; and 
Charlevoix, who traveled through the country about forty 
years afterward, says it was then entirely abandoned. 
It is true that when La Salle found that Tonti had aban- 
doned that part of the country he went to Green Bay, and 
brought him back to the Illinois, where he assisted to 
build a vessel, in which they sailed down the Illinois and 
Mississippi rivers. He seems to have done much hard 
service for La Salle in his lifetime, and to have risked 
much to recover his remains after his death. He also 
seems to have held possession of the country for France 
for several years after La Salle's death; but I no where 
find evidence that he occupied Creve-Coeur or Peoria. 
2 



10 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

The histories some times speak of his occupying Rock 
Fort, and some times Fort St. Louis. In his recital to 
the French crown of his arduous services, he makes no 
mention of either but of Fort St. Louis. He says : " These 
discoveries being finished, he remained in 1683 com- 
mandant of Fort St. Louis, of the Illinois, and in 1684 he 
was there attacked by 200 Iroquois, whom he repulsed 
with great loss on their side." — Browns History of 
Illinois, page 128. 

Where Rock Fort or Fort St. Louis was situated will, 
I presume, be for ever unknown. Some have located it 
on the Starved Rock, and some on the Buffalo Rock. 
As long ago as May, 1833, I was on the Starved Rock, 
and examined it with some care, but saw no evidence of 
any fortification ever having been there. And so effect- 
ually was every thing done by that set of Frenchmen 
obliterated, before the country fell into the hands of the 
Americans, that not a vestige could be found : nothing to 
show they had ever been at that place. 

Since the above was written, I have perused Mr. Park- 
man's new work, The Discovery of the Great West, and 
I think he has pretty well established the fact that Rock 
Fort and Fort St. Louis were one and the same, and that 
the locality was on what is now known as the Starved 
Rock. See his book, pages 156, 177, 205, 287, 288, 221, 
289, and 290. It is true, however, that thirty-six years 
ago I saw no vestige of any buildings or fortifications at 
that place. All had gone to decay, and trees had grown 
over the site. 

But where Mr. Parkman gets his description of Fort 



HISTORY OP PEORIA. 11 

Creve-Cceur I can not imagine. (See page 167.) His 
description is not justified by any thing Hennepin says 
.about it, nor is there any ground at that place that fits 
his description. There is no hill or knoll there, but the 
land is all under water occasionally, for more than a mile 
back from the river. Where does he get the authority 
for saying this fort was defended by chevaux-de-frise and 
palisades twenty-five feet high ? 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SUBJECT CONTINUED — PARTICULARLY WITH REGARD 
TO THE ABORIGINES. 



There were then only wandering savages in these parts, 
whose business was to catch fish and hunt deer enough to 
support life, while they, as a matter of much more import- 
ance, spent much of their time m hunting one another, 
and they killed, or were killed, as courage, skill or luck 
would have it; and hence the garden-spot of the earth, 
the country between the Alleghanies on the east and the 
Rocky Mountains on the west, and the great Lakes on 
the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, capable 
of containing 100,000,000 of human beings, possessed only 
a few despicable savages, who sought every opportunity 
to make the number less. 

Those who believe whatever they are told, without in- 



12 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

quiry, believe that this country was long since densely 
populated, by a highly-civilized people; and our love-sick 
novelists, in speaking of the degraded remnant we found 
here, speak of the gallantry and courage of the great war- 
riors, and of the beautiful Indian maidens. My experi- 
ence on the subject is decidedly unfavorable to Indian 
courage, chivalry and beauty. I never saw an Indian 
that would fight unless he had the advantage ; nor do I 
think I ever saw one who had ever felt an impulse of 
true gallantry. They were males, and, like other animals, 
knew and appreciated the other sex; but, further than 
this, gallantry was unknown to them. A woman was by 
the Indians more admired for carrying a large pack of 
venison or fur skins than for possessing beauty. We 
read about great Indian towns; but they had no towns, 
— not even a house for a residence, place of worship, nor 
for any other purpose. The only houses they had were 
wigwams, that could be speedily removed upon their 
ponies, or in their canoes. The whole fabric consisted of 
poles placed in the ground, in a circle, and the tops bent 
together and tied with bark. Several other poles were 
bent around horizontally, and tied to these, and then 
mats, which they made of grass, were spread over these, 
and the edifice was completed. For a chimney, a hole 
was left in the top. For a door, one mat was left loose 
below, so as to be raised, when necessary, whereas the 
other mats were tied to pegs driven in the ground. 

Our credulous ancestors were made to believe that 
these people were converted to Christianity. Father 
Hennepin and other Catholic priests baptized thousands of 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 13 

them, nearly two hundred years ago, and Father Walker, 
a pious Methodist, some forty years ago, devoted himself 
to their service, and no doubt thought he made great 
proficiency in leading them in the way of life ; but they 
only listened to his sermons for the sake of the corn-bread 
and pork his wife fed them on after the sermon was over, 
Every body but father Walker knew this. He, however, 
had the happiness to pass through life with the sincere 
belief that his glory in the next world would be greatly 
enhanced by the presence of these savages as witnesses of 
his great Christian zeal. George E. Walker, a wealthy 
old gentleman of Ottawa, is a nephew to this man. 

The writer hereof has seen some of Rev. Mr. Walker's 
disciples, besides many other Indians, such as infested 
these plains previous to the Black-Hawk War, and gives 
it as his firm belief that there was not an Indian, at that 
time, in Illinois, that believed the Christian religion at 
all. Nor had they any well-defined notions of religion 
of any kind. The priests had taught them something 
about their God, who is a spirit, and about miracles, and 
the mysterious virtue of relics, and the sacred host. The 
savages, not understanding these things, perverted them. 
Each tribe soon had its medicine-man, who, with his 
medicine-bag of numerous nothings, answered them well 
enough for a priest, and performed a goodly number of 
miracles, — at least, made them believe so. 

Our relic-hunters have found, all over this country, the 
evidences of an ancient civilization, in fortifications, 
tumuli, broken pottery, etc. This is all a delusion, but 
the common delusion of little men, who have 'a little 



14 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

learning', which Pope says is a dangerous thing. I was 
born in the West, and have lived in it for the space of 
sixty-eight years, but have never seen any evidence of 
this kind, nothing that could not be explained upon some 
other hypothesis. I have seen nothing that the most fa- 
natical ought to construe into a fortification. I have seen 
mounds in which there were human bones; but why not 
say that Indians selected high places in which to bury 
their dead, as civilized people do, especially as some 
Indians, not being satisfied with the elevation of the 
highest mounds, deposited their departed friends on large 
trees ? It would be much easier to select a mound than 
to build one, especially as they had neither picks, shovels, 
nor carts, nor Irishmen to use them; for every one 
knows that if the Indians had tools they were too lazy 
to use them. 

There is a hillock not far from the City of Joliet, which 
has been honored with the title of Mount Joliet, of which 
Peck, in his Gazetteer, says "it is evidently the work of 
art"; and the author of American Antiquities says, 
"This mound consists of eighteen million two hundred 
and fifty thousand solid feet of earth. How long it must 
have been in being .built is more than can be made out, 
as the number of men employed, and the facilities to 
carry on the work, are unknown. *' To those who have 
never examined, nor even seen, Mount Joliet, this theory 
is very pretty; but to those who have seen and examined 
it, it appears too absurd to merit a refutation, had not 
sensible men fallen into the error. I have been on and 
about Mount Joliet, and examined it with a view to this 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 15 

question, and I assure the reader that there not only is 
no appearance there to indicate that it was made by hands, 
but the most conclusive evidence that it is the result ot 
mighty currents of water flowing there for ages long 
gone by. It is simply a great pile of stones and pebbles, 
which have been rounded by being rubbed and rolled 
against each other. The amount of clay and earth 
among these stones and pebbles is so small as hardly to 
be perceived ; yet grass and weeds have annually grown 
on the top and decayed for ages, until a pretty good soil 
is formed there. This great pile of pebbles does not ex- 
tend into the earth, but it stands on it — on a bed of 
clay, that is being manufactured, on a large scale, into 
fire-brick and underground tiling, or more properly piping, 
while the pebbles are being carried to Chicago to pave 
gutters and streets. 

In the month of February, 1832, I was temporarily 
boarding at Robbins's Hotel, in Alton, and the subject of 
the mounds in the American Bottom was under discuss- 
ion ; and, to prove they were artificial, it was asserted 
that they contained human bones. I pointed to a high 
peak, a little to the northwest of where the penitentiary 
was afterward built, and asked one of the company if, in 
his opinion, that was artificial. He replied certainly not: 
that that had manifestly been made by the rains wearing 
away the earth about it. Well, said I, I will venture the 
assertion that there are human bones in that. He thought 
not; and, having time enough on our hands, we procured 
tools, and dug into it, and found human bones. 

I once found, with the bones of an Indian, a piece of 



16 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



bis gun, the blade of his butcher-knife, and portions of 
an opaque glass bottle. I have also seen beads, hatchets, 
and other things indicating a considerable degree of civ- 
ilization, that had been taken from Indian graves. How 
much more reasonable the hypothesis that these things 
were procured from the French traders than that they 
were made by civilized men, whose descendants had 
become barbarous. 

It is known to all who have read history that the daily 
necessaries and conveniences of life are never lost by the 
descendants of civilized men, however barbarous they 
may become. No nation that ever had the benefit of 
iron ever lost the use of it. The same is true as to 
horses and cattle, and many other things. The Indians 
had none of these things, when found by white men ; yet 
horses were so necessary to them, and so easily raised in 
this grassy country, that they have never been without 
them since. Men fond of the marvelous are averse to 
scanning evidence. They seem afraid of discovering its 
insufficiency. 

I knew a blacksmith who, for some purpose, made a 
wrought-iron cup ; but when he undertook to solder it 
with brass, he made it too hot, and spoilt it, but the solder 
spread and run into the pores of the hot iron. He threw 
it away, and it lay behind his shop for years. In the 
neighborhood lived a man who had a good spring, of 
which he often boasted. A mischievous lad buried this 
cup in that spring. In process of time, iif cleaning out 
the spring, the cup was found, and attracted much atten- 
tion. It was very rusty, of course; but upon being filed 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 17 

it seemed to be a compound of brass and iron. Some 
thought it a new metal, unknown to us, but known to the 
ancients. Here was evidence, conclusive ' as proofs from 
Holy Writ', of an ancient civilization. The excitement 
became so intense as to draw the blacksmith from his 
anvil. The astonished audience became more astonished, 
when the blacksmith avowed that he had made that very 
cup. An investigation brought to light the person who 
put it there. 

I lay it down as a fact that a country once inhabited by 
civilized men, the vestiges of their civilization can never 
be destroyed. Witness the remains in Herculaneum, 
Nineveh, and Egypt. If there had ever been a civilized 
people here, the stones or metals would present some 
evidence of their literature ; but every thing that I have 
seen of that kind was manifestly of French origin. All 
engravings and stamps that I have seen were of Latin 
letters, which the French use, as well as ourselves. 

Then with regard to the aboriginal inhabitants I have 
no history to give. They were wild men, without any 
literature or permanent habitations, and had never been 
in a superior condition. 



18 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ANCIENT FRENCH POPULATION. 

Nor should we allow ourselves to be deceived as to the 
amount of civilization that existed here before the French 
village was broken up, in 1812. Attempts have been 
made to convince men that there was a fine, flourishing 
settlement here, of civilized, enterprising, intelligent j>eo- 
ple. I apprehend that the men La Salle and others 
brought here were of the lower class, and most ignorant 
of the French population. If not, they had woefully de- 
teriorated between the time they were brought here and 
the destruction of their village. I have not been able to 
ascertain the population of Peoria when the village was 
broken up, by Capt. Craig. Every man of them, I 
believe, is dead, except Robert Forsyth, of St. Louis, 
who was then a boy. I wrote to him for a list of them, 
as near as his recollection would serve him, and I sup- 
pose he knows, for, besides being born among them, he 
spent fifteen years in hunting them up, and bringing 
and conducting suits, in which he derived his title 
through them; but he has not answered my letter. Nor 
do I find any record or history giving the number of the 
population at that time. From any information I possess, 
I can only find the names of sixteen men who were there 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 19 

at the time. As this statement will probably be disputed, 
I here insert their names. Thomas Forsyth, Louis Pilette, 
Jaques Mette, Pierre Lavoisseur dit Chamberlain, An- 
toine LeClair, Michael LeCroix, Francis Racine, sen., 
Francis Racine, Jan., John Baptiste de Fond, Felix Fon- 
taine, Louis Binct, Hypolite Maillet, Francis Buche, 
Charles La Belle, Antoine La Pance and Antoine Bour- 
bonne. Of these Michael Le Croix escaped to Canada 
and accepted a commission from the enemy, and fought 
against us. Others claimed lots by reason of their 
residence at this place ; but the proof on file at the land- 
office, an abstract of which can be found in third volume 
of American State Papers, page 422, shows that they had 
previously abandoned the place — some of them more than 
twenty years before. But I will suppose I have over- 
looked some (which is possible), and call the number 
twenty-five. Then, if these men had, on an average, five 
in a family (which is the usual calculation), we have in 
this village, that has made so much noise and caused so 
much trouble, a population of one hundred and twenty- 
five souls, all told; and except these, I know of no French 
inhabitants on the Illinois river, in those days, nor between 
the Mississippi and Wabash, excepting, always, a very 
ancient Frenchman, by the name of Bisson (pronounced 
Besaw) who always lived at Wesley (then called the 
Trading House). I have seen many affidavits and other 
papers signed by these men, but signed with a mark. I 
remember as exceptions to this rule that Thomas Forsyth, 
Michael Le Croix and Antoine La Pance wrote their 
names. There were probably others that could write, 



20 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 

but I do not remember them. I remember no case where 
a French woman could write her name. The depositions 
in the Peoria French claims at Edwardsville, and in the 
many suits brought on them, will show if I am right. 
These were fishermen and hunters, not farmers. All the 
fields they pretended ever to have in cultivation amounted 
to less than three hundred acres, even, if none of the 
fields had been deserted before they left. "When the vil- 
lage was burnt I think they had less than two hundred 
acres in cultivation. They, however, some times acted 
as voyageurs for the Indian traders, but of manufactures 
they had none. They had not a school-house or church, 
nor a dwelling-house that deserved the name. I saw and 
examined the ground on which their houses had stood, 
before the ground was disturbed, and I am able to state 
that there was not a stone nor brick wall in the village, 
for any purpose, nor was there a cellar. Some of the 
houses had a small place excavated under the floor, in 
front of the fire-place, for potatoes. Some of the houses 
had posts, in the ground, and some were framed with 
sills ; but, in stead of being boarded up as with us, the 
space between the posts was filled with pieces of timber 
laid horizontally, with mud between them. The chim- 
neys were made of mud and sticks. That they had no 
gardens, in the common acceptation of the term, is mani- 
fest from this : many of the cultivated plants, when once 
introduced in a place, if deserted by man, will never 
cease to grow there. This is true of all the fruits that 
grow in this climate, and it is true of many herbs, and of 
some culinary vegetables. Every one knows that, long 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 21 



after a farm is deserted, the apple-trees and gooseberry 
and currant bushes will continue to grow; and tansy, 
flags, lilies and mustard, and many other plants, were 
never known voluntarily to abandon the place where they 
had once grown. Yet, when the present population com- 
menced to settle here, about forty years ago, there was 
not to be found, in this neighborhood, a vestige of a tree, 
shrub or plant belonging to Europe. They would have 
made wine of the sour grapes of the woods, if they had 
had sugar to assuage its acidity and cellars to preserve it; 
but the sugar could not then be afforded, and the cellars 
they had not. And we know they had no French grapes, 
for the reason above — no vines remain. I therefore pro- 
nounce the wine story a humbug. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. COLES'S REPORT. 

But a word more about the French population. The 
first Frenchmen who ever saw Peoria, or rather the 
ground on which it stands, were Father Marquette and 
his party, in the summer of 1673, but they formed no 
colony, nor did they leave any one to hold possession of 
the place. The next party that visited the j)lace was 
that under La Salle, in January 1, 1680. They attempted 



22 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

to establish a trading-post, and actually built a fort ; but 
the men behaved badly, and the Indians became hostile, 
and, during La Salle's absence to Canada to obtain sup- 
plies and men, they all abandoned the place. Upward 
of forty years afterward, when Charlevoix visited this 
place, he found no Frenchmen here, nor have I been able, 
from any source, to learn when the French first com- 
menced their village at Peoria. According to Coles's 
report, they were here before the oldest inhabitant could 
remember. 

Edward Coles, who was then register of the land-office 
at Edwardsville, but who was afterward governor of 
Illinois, a man of an inquiring mind, and fond of antique 
matters, and who took nearly all the proofs on which 
Peoria French claims are based, reported as follows to 
the Secretary of the Treasury : 

"The old village of Peoria was situated on the north- 
west shore of Lake Peoria, about one mile and a half 
above the lower extremity or outlet of the lake. This 
village had been inhabited by the French previous to the 
recollection of any of the present generation. About the 
year 1778 or 1779, the first house was built in what was 
then called La Ville de Maillet, afterward the New Vill- 
age of Peoria, and of late the place has been known by the 
name of Fort Clark, situated about one mile and a half 
below the old village, immediately at the lower point or 
outlet of Lake Peoria. The situation being preferred on 
account of the water being better, and its being thought 
more healthy, the inhabitants gradually deserted the old 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 23 

village, and by the year 1796 or 17 97 bad entirely aban- 
doned it, and removed to the new village. 

" The inhabitants of Peoria consisted generally of 
Indian traders, hunters, and voyageurs, and had formed 
a link of connection between the French residing on the 
waters of the great lakes and the Mississippi river. From 
that happy faculty of adapting themselves to their situa- 
tion and associates, for which the French are so remarka- 
ble, the inhabitants of Peoria lived generally in harmony 
with their savage neighbors. It would seem, however, 
that about the year 1781 they were induced to abandon 
the village, from an apprehension of Indian hostilities; but 
soon after the peace of 1783 they again returned, and con- 
tinued to reside there until the autumn of the year 1812, 
when they were forcibly removed from it, and the place 
destroyed by Capt. Craig, of the Illinois militia, on the 
ground, as it was said, that he and his company of militia 
were fired on in the night, while at anchor, in their boats, 
before the village, by Indians, with whom the inhabitants 
were suspected by Craig to be too intimate and friendly. 

" The inhabitants of Peoria, it would appear from all I 
can learn, settled there without any grant or permission 
from the authority of any government; that the only title 
they had to their lands was derived from possession, and 
the only value attached to it grew out of the improve- 
ments placed on it. That each person took to himself 
such portion of unoccupied land as he wished to occupy 
and cultivate, and made it his own by incorporating his 
labor with it; but as soon as he abandoned it, his title 
was understood to cease, with his possession and im- 



24 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

provements, and it reverted to its natural state, and was 
liable again to be improved and possessed by any one 
who should think proper. This, together with the itiner- 
ant character of the inhabitants, will account for the num- 
ber of persons who will frequently be found from the 
testimony, contained in the report, to have occupied the 
same lot, many of whom, it will be seen, present conflict- 
ing claims. 

"As is usual in French villages, the possession in 
Peoria consisted generally of village lots, on which they 
erected their buildings and made their gardens, and of 
outlots or fields, in which they cultivated grain, etc. 
The village lots contained, in general, about one half of 
an arpent of land; the outlots or fields were of various 
sizes, depending on the industry or means of the owner 
to cultivate more or less land. 

"As neither the old nor new village of Peoria was ever 
formally laid out or had defined limits assigned them, it 
is impossible to have of them an accurate map. ... I 
have not been able to ascertain, with precision, on what 
particular quarter-sections of the military survey these 
claims are situated." — Coles's Report to the Secretary of 
the Treasury, dated Nov. 10, 1820. 3d vol. Amer. State 
Papers, Ifil. 

Mr. Coles was a gentleman who would aim to speak the 
truth, but he was surrounded by those claimants, and no 
one else. He had no means of knowing any thing about 
them and their claims but from themselves; and yet, 
observe his statements : " The inhabitants of Peoria, it 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 25 



would appear from all I can learn, settled there without 
any grant or permission from the authority of any govern- 
ment; that the only title they had to their lands was 
derived from possession, and the only value attached to 
it grew out of the improvements placed on it," etc. ; and 
the village had been inhabited only previous to the recol- 
lection of any of the present generation. And this state- 
ment was made in the fall of 1820. How long any of 
these had been there it is no where further shown than 
that it was beyond their recollection. For the space of 
about eighty years after La Salle's men left, I have con- 
sulted no book that shows that any white man was living 
at Peoria. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS. 



Ox page 135, Hennepin says, "M. La Salle, improving 
this fair season, desired me to go down the river with him to 
choose a place to build a fort. After having viewed the coun- 
try, we pitched upon an eminence on the bank of the river, 
defended on that side by the river, and on two other sides 
by ditches the rains had made very deep, by succession of 
time, so that it was accessible only by one way; there- 
fore we cast a line to join those two natural ditches, and 
4 



26 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

made the eminence steep, on every side, supporting the 
earth with great pieces of timber." This was done on 
the 15th of January, 1680. This is the fort which, on ac- 
count of La Salle's troubles and misfortunes, he called 
Creve-Cceur; and this quotation settles, at once and for 
ever, a question that has been disputed for the last thirty 
years, to wit, the precise locality of this fort. The most 
of those who have written on the subject have placed it 
above Peoria — some two or three miles, and others six 
or eight miles above. But the first difficulty that hy- 
pothesis meets with is, there is no high land on that side 
of the river within the bounds proposed. All the land 
above the city, on that side, for more than tha greatest 
distance proposed, is liable to to overflow to the extent of 
ten or fifteen feet. Besides, Hennepin says, to locate it 
they went from Peoria l doicn the river\ and that they 
found a place where there was an 'eminence ', and the 
'bank of the river' made one line, and two sides were 
made 'by ditches the rains had made very deep'. There 
is no place on the river that fits this description but the 
village of Wesley; and that fits it exactly. 

Reynolds, whose means of correct information was su- 
perior, or at least equal, to that of any one else, but who 
was oftener in error, says " there is some confusion with 
authors in regard to the forts, and their precise location. 
There were two forts : one called Creve-Coeur, and the 
other Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis. Creve-Cceur was located 
some where, I presume, on the southeast side, eight miles 
above Peoria, on the lake " ; etc. 

There were, in fact, six works called forts. 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 27 

1st, Creve-CoBur, situated at Wesley, on the east side 
the river, built by La Salle, in 1680, as above described. 

2d, Fort Clark, built, as hereafter described, in 181 3, by 
IT. S. troops. 

3d, Fort Clark, built by the citizens of Peoria in 1832, 
on the site of old Fort Clark, but never occupied. 

4th, A fort built (when I do not know) by the French 
population, about 150 feet above the pottery. This was 
burnt by the Indians about the year 1788. The quarter- 
section on which this fort stood has been in the possess- 
ion of Mr. John Birket for about forty-three years. In 
1826 he could trace the lines of said fort by the lower 
end of the pickets still being there then, and by the 
earth being higher along the lines of the pickets than else- 
where. Back of this fort was the remains of a smith - 
shop, and near it, in digging up a wild j^hmr-tree, he 
struck into a considerable quantity of metal, mostly iron, 
among which were some gun-barrels, the whole having 
the appearance of having been the stock in trade of a 
gunsmith, that had long been buried there. Among the 
rest was some silver plate, which had probably been had 
to inlay gun-stocks by way of ornament. As small 
change was then very scarce, he cut this up into small 
circular pieces, in imitation of small coin, and passed 
them as such. If any question was made as to their 
genuineness, he would say he knew they were good, for 
he made them himself. 

5th, It would seem, from the testimony of Hypolite 
Maillet, given in French Claim Xo. 7 (American State 
Papers, vol. 3, page 424), that he, who was forty-five 



28 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

years old in 1820, was ' born in a stockaded fort' on block 
50, a little above the upper bridge. 

6th, Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis, built by La Salle, in 
1680, some where between the present towns of Lasalle 
and Ottawa. I suppose this was the best-built and most 
important of all these fortifications. For its locality see 
Chapter IV. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



INDIAN WAR. GOV. EDWARDS AND CAPT. CRAIG. 

By the treaty with Great Britain made in 1783, and 
particularly by Jay's treaty, made in 1794, all French- 
men in Illinois became citizens — at least subjects — of 
the United States, and owed allegiance to them; and 
when the war between Great Britain and the United 
States broke out in 1812, it was treason for them to aid 
the British, or their allies, the Indians. The French at 
Peoria were charged with obtaining ammunition from the 
British in Canada, and furnishing it to the Indians at 
Peoria; with murdering our people, in the southern part 
of the state; and John Baptiste Maillet (Capt. Maillet), 
the chief military man at Peoria (and who was afterward 
rewarded by the United States for his supposed loyalty 
to them), was charged with stealing cattle from the 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 29 

Wood-River settlement, in Madison county, to feed the 
Indians at Peoria. These stones may not have been 
true; but they were plausible, and it was the duty of 
Gov. Edwards to inquire into them. He therefore or- 
dered Capt. Craig, of the Illinois militia, to ascend the 
Illinois (there then being no roads in that part of the 
state) for that purpose. 

That Gov. Edwards believed those stories, and was 
greatly alarmed, is manifest from a letter he wrote on the 
4th of August, 1812, to Mr. Eustis, Secretary of War of 
the United States. He says, in speaking of the Indians, 
" Those near Peoria are now constantly killing and eat- 
ing the cattle of the people of that village. . . . The 
Indians on the Illinois are well supplied with English 
powder, and have been selling some of it to the white 
people. A few days ago they sent some of their party 
with five horses to the Sac Village for lead." In a post- 
script he adds, "No troops of any kind have yet arrived 
in this territory, and I think you may count upon hearing 
of a bloody stroke upon us very soon. I have been ex- 
tremely reluctant to send my family away; but, unless I 
hear shortly of more assistance than a few rangers, I shall 
bury my papers in the ground, send my family oflf, and 
stand my ground as long as possible." 

There were in those days no steamboats, and Craig 
used small row-boats. But as Capt. Craig has been 
greatly vilified for burning Peoria, I will let him speak 
for himself. After it was over, and he had returned 
home, he made the following report of his doings to the 
governor. 



30 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



Shawneetown, Illinois Territory, ) 
December 10, 1812. f 
Governor Edwards, — 

Sir: I landed at Peoria on the 5th of No- 
vember, 1812, and left that place on the 9th. *** * 
said the Indians were all gone. I believed none of 
the citizens, from their actions. The sentinels on board 
my boats could hear and see them passing through 
town, with candles, and hear canoes crossing the river all 
night, for several nights. "We would land in the morn- 
ing to look, and see fresh horse-tracks in town. There is 

no doubt but that they were Indians I am 

convinced the French knew of your return. They were 
in council every day, and did detain Governor Howard's 

express, against his will About midnight of 

the 6th of November, the wind blew so hard in the lake 
that we were forced to draw the boats about one-quarter 
of a mile below Peoria. We there cast anchor; the 
wind still continuing to blow with such force that it broke 
our cable, and drifted the armed boat on shore. It was 
at that time very dark, and our anchor lost. I thought 
myself secure, as it was impossible for the Indians to dis- 
cover us before daylight, unless they were in town at 
the time we passed. Between the break of day and day- 
light, I opened my cabin-window, and was talking with 
the sentinel on the stern deck. We had spoke but a few 
words before we were fired on by, I think, ten or more 
guns, not more than thirty yards from the boat. The 
men were immediately fixed for battle, but were disap- 
pointed, as they [the Indians] made their escape imme- 
diately. We only heard them yelp after the fire. So 
soon as it was clear daylight, I had the boats landed about 
the centre of the village, and sent to know what had be- 
come of the citizens. They said they had heard nor seen 
nothing. I then sent to the place we were fired on. 
There were tracks plenty leading from that place up to 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 31 



the village. This was what I expected. I immediately 
had them all taken prisoners except Howard's express. 
They were all in a house with their guns. Their guns 
appeared to have just been fired. The most of them 
were empty. I gave them time to collect their property, 
which was done immediately. 

Howard's express came on hoard my boat and told me 
that seven of the citizens went out (they said to hunt 
beef) the morning we were fired upon. They started 
about the break of day, and returned about daylight. 
He said perhaps there were more, for they would never 
let him know what the}' were going to do, and would 
talk together in his absence. We staid two days after 
they were taken prisoners. I made them furnish their 
own rations all the time I kept them. I burnt down 
about half the town of Peoria, and I would have burnt 
the whole and destroyed all the stock, but I still expected 
Hopkins's army to pass the place. I found four Ameri- 
can muskets in their possession, and one keg of musket- 
balls, and one musket in the house, under the floor, and 
some brass musket-moulds. On our way down the river, 
they were all unarmed. I gave them permission to camp 
on shore, whilst I anchored in the river. They always 
preferred the Indian side for their camping-ground. 

I have been very unwell since my return home. I can 
scarcely sit up to write you, but I am mending. 
I have the honor to be, sir, 

Your humble servant, 

Thos. E. Ckaig.* 



*I received this letter from Hon. Kinian TV. Edwards, the son 
of Gov. Ninian Edwards, and by him I am restricted to publish 
it as it is here, without the blanks being filled up ; but I presume 
the whole will soon appear in a forthcoming History of Illinois, 
which he is about to publish. I know not his motive for with- 
holding from me a full copy, unless it is an apprehension that it 
might affect the sale of his book. 



32 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

I have not been able to find the authority by which 
said Craig took those troops to Peoria; but that he did 
the business under Gov. Edwards's order, and to his sat- 
isfaction, is presumable, from the fact that the governor 
afterward appointed him colonel of the militia, and also 
judge of Gallatin county. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. GOV. KEYXOEDS'S ACCOUNT OF IT. 

But this is a much less war than the government in- 
tended to get up in this region. It was planned to send 
an army of Kentucky volunteers across Indiana and Illi- 
nois to Peoria Lake, and another of Illinois militia, under 
Governor Edwards and Col. Russell, from the southern 
portion of Illinois, to form a junction with them in that vi- 
cinity, and, thus united, to be able to overcome any force 
the Indians might be able to bring against them. Gov. 
Shelby, of Kentucky, called for volunteers for this pur- 
pose, and got more men than he wanted, and had to turn 
some back. The troops accepted were concentrated at 
Vincennes into an army, and marched up the Wabash to 
Fort Harrison (near where the city of Terre Haute lias 
since been built), and there crossed the Wabash, and 
struck out into the Grand Prairie, for the Kickapoo vil- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 33 

lage and Peoria. They had been brought up in a land of 
forests, where they could always have wood to cook with, 
trees to shelter them against an enemy, and plenty of 
pure, running water, and provisions to eat; but here they 
were out of sight of timber, in the bleak, wide expanse, 
with no good water, and not much of any kind, and pro- 
visions scarce; and, to cap the climax, they had heard 
the foolish stories, that all the travelers who have traveled 
in the great prairies tell, about the horrible prairie-fires, 
that can lick up whole regiments, and they saw the prai- 
ries on fire in the distance, and they got horribly scared : 
they got sulky : they mutinied, and went home, without 
doing any thing, leaving the other and smaller army to 
its fate; and, had the Indians known the situation, they 
could have easily cut it off. 

Fortunately, however, for us, the Indians did not know 
the unsupported condition of Edwards and Russell's little 
army ; and as soon as the latter found they were unsup- 
ported by Gen. Hopkins, they made their escape out of 
that part of the country. But as a stripling of their 
army, John Reynolds, who afterward became governor 
of the state, besides filling several other high offices, pub- 
lished a history of his life and times, I prefer to let him 
tell the story about the smaller army in his own way. 
He says: "We left Camp Russell — marched up the 
northwest side of Cahokia creek, nearly to its source, 
thence across the prairie to Macoupin creek, not far above 

the present Carlinville We had guides along 

who conducted the army to the village of Potawatamie 
Indians, known as the Black Partridge village, situated 
5 



34 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

at the Illinois bluffs, nearly opposite the upper end of 
Peoria Lake. We camped within four or five miles of the 
village, and all was silent as a grave-yard — as we ex- 
pected a night attack, as was the case with Harrison at 
Tippecanoe. When troops are silent, sulky and savage, 
they will fight. Our horses were tied near the camp, sad- 
dled and prepared for action, if needed. We lay with 
our clothes on, and guns in our arms. 

"A soldier by the name of Bradshaw fixing his gun, it 
fired. Every man in the army was sure of a battle; but, 
in a few minutes, Gov. Edwards cried out 'it was an acci- 
dent.' One thing I recollect, I had a white blanket-coat 
on, and I considered it too white at night. I ladled this 
coat off in double-quick time. It was said every one with 
a white coat on in the battle of Tippecanoe was killed. 

. . . . The next morning, in a fog, our company, 
the spies, met two Indians, as we supposed, and our cap- 
tain fired on them. Many of us, before he shot, begged 
for mercy for the Indians, as they wanted to surrender. 
But Judy said any body will surrender when they can 
not help it, and that he did not leave home to take pris- 
oners. I saw the dust rise off the Indian's leather shirt, 
when Judy's bullet entered his body. Both Indians were 
mounted on good horses. The Indian commenced sing- 
ing his death-song, the blood streaming out of his mouth 
and nose. He was reeling, and a man from the main 
army, Mr. Wright, came up within a few yards of the 
wounded Indian, but the Indian just previously had pre- 
sented his gun at some of us near him, but we darted off 
our horses as quick as thought, and presented the horses 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 35 

between him and us, so he could not shoot us; but 
Wright was either surprised or something else, and re- 
mained on his horse. The Indian, as quick as a steel 
trap, shot Wright, and in a few miuutes the Indian ex- 
pired The other Indian supposed to be a 

Avarrior was a squaw. But before the fact was known, 
many guns were fired at her. It is singular that so many 
guns fired at the squaw missed her; but when the whites 
surrounded her and knew her sex, all was over. She 
cried terribly, and was taken prisoner, and at last deliv- 
ered over to her nation. Many of the French, in the 
army, understood her language, and made her as happy 
as possible. In this matter, I never fired my gun, as I 

saw no occasion for it 

"When the troops came near the village, no order nor 
restraint could be observed. All pounced on the town, 
pell-mell, with shouts 'loud and long'; but just when we 
came in sight, the Indians — men, women and children — re- 
treated from the village, in the greatest hurry and speed. 
Near the town were swamps, almost impassable, and a great 
portion of the horsemen were mired before they knew it. 
My horse fell down in the mud, and I went rolling over 
his head, in the swamp. Near me, I saw Gov. Edwards 
and horse flounder in a deep mud-hole, both down and 
covered with black mud. The village was built here on 
account of the mud and impassable morasses, for defense. 
The Indians saved themselves by the swamps. Horse- 
men could not act, and the cat-tail and brush were so 
thick in these morasses that the Indians hid in them, and 
it was dangerous to approach them. Several parties, on 



36 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

foot, trailed after the body of Indians two or three miles, 
across the swampy bottom, to the river, and killed some 
of the enemy on the route, and at the river. A few of the 

army were wounded, but none killed What 

corn and other articles could not be removed were burnt. 
A complete destruction of the village was effected. 
Some Indian children were found in the ashes and saved. 
A large Indian was wounded, and thereby was unable to 
run off with the rest; he was starving, and ate bread vo- 
raciously when it was given him. He was protected while 
the army remained in the village, but it was said th,at 
some straoffrler behind killed him after the army left. . . 

"When we reached this village, we heard nothing of 
Hopkins; and I presume it was not prudent to remain 
there any time. In this vicinity, in a day or two, one 
thousand Indians could be assembled. Under these cir- 
cumstances, the army started back the same day they de- 
stroyed the village. I recollect all the booty I took was a 
deer-skin, sewed fast all around, and it full of corn. It 
rained in the evening, and my corn-sack got wet, which 
caused it to become as slippery as a fish; but I hung to 
it, and got it into camp that night. 

"Every one dreaded an attack from the Indians, as 
they all knew that they were numerous in that vicinity. 
We traveled on to dark, in torrents of rain, and camped 
on the high bluff of the river, where we could obtain 
neither water to drink nor wood to burn. We were all 
exhausted, and many lay down in the rain and mud 
without food, fire, or water to drink. I never experienced 
such a bad night. I saw in the morning men sleeping 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 37 



lialf-covered with mud, where the horses and men had 
tramped the earth. ~No Indians appeared, and we were 
glad of it, The next morning, we started by time. Got 
out into the open woods ; made fires ; dried ourselves ; fired 
off our guns; loaded again; eat our breakfast, and com- 
menced in earnest our march for home. 

" While the army was in the neighborhood of the old 
village of Peoria, Capt, Craig had his boat lying in the 
lake, adjacent to Peoria. The boat was fortified, so that 
the fire of the enemy could not penetrate it. Craig was 
attacked on several occasions, by the Indians, but 
received no damage. 

" Our army reached Camp Russell in safety, after some 
weeks' march, where we were received with the honors 
of a salutation, booming from the Fort Chartres's cannon, 
and the roar of small arms. The troops, for the most 
part, were permitted to return to their homes; and Judy's 
company, wherein I was a private, was discharged en- 
tirely. 

" Thus closed this short, energetic campaign, which, 
no doubt, did much service in preventing the Indians from 
marauding around the frontiers. Not a man was killed, 
and all were pleased with the services they performed 
for their country." — Reynolds's Life and limes, 137 
to U2. 

What an extraordinary story is this ! A considerable 
army marches about 200 miles north to form a junction 
with another much larger, inarching from the southeast, 
at Peoria, and, properly to expedite the business, the 
small army sends Captain Craig with his command up 



38 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



the river, in boats, with provisions. The captain's com- 
pany arrives at Peoria, in due time, and takes the village 
and burns it, and is quietly resting on its oars. The small 
army, in stead of going to Peoria, passes within a few 
miles of it, without sending over to see if Capt. Craig 
had arrived, or was in need of succor, or could tell where 
Hopkins, the commander of the larger army, was, marches 
up to the Indian village, about twenty miles above Peoria, 
finds no body there but a man and his wife, who are not 
combatants, but beg hard for their lives; but merev 
reigns not in that crowd: they kill the man at once, and 
shoot many balls at the woman, but her sex, or her mani- 
ton, or what-not, protects her. The troops ascertain (but 
how they ascertain it is not stated) that the charmed in- 
dividual is a woman; they cease to desire to do what it 
seems they were unable to do — to kill the woman. They 
afterward found an old cripple, that was unable to get 
out of the way, who was also killed. What few Indians 
had been there, except these three and some small child- 
ren, escaped into the swamps, and across the river. Then, 
without hearing from Hopkins or Craig, they turned tail, 
the same day, and fled precipitately through mud and 
rain about 200 miles, to their starting-place, passing 
Peoria again, without sending over to ascertain the fate 
of Craig and his boats. And all this without their having 
lost a man or having obtained any knowledge as to where 
the Indian army was. For all that they knew, the 
Indians were fighting Craig at Peoria, or Hopkins in the 
Grand Prairie near by. 

Again he says they camped on the 'bluffs of the river, 



JHISTORY OF PEORIA. 39 



where we could obtain neither water to drink nor wood 
to burn'. This, I am positive is not correct. Every- 
where along there the bluffs abound with wood. I have 
been over that ground, but, for fear of a mistake, I inquired 
of Mr. Josiah Fulton, who is acquainted with every foot 
of ground in that neighborhood, and was for years 
among those Indians, and he says there was then no place 
along there where wood was not plenty. I suspect Rey- 
nolds did not know where he Avas. In stead of being on 
the bluff, he was in the great prairie, near where Meta- 
raora or Cruger now stands. 

He further says, "When we reached this village we 
heard nothing of Hopkins." Why should they, when 
they shot the first man who met them and attempted to 
speak to them ? And on that account he says, " I presume 
it Avas not prudent to remain there any time." Then why 
not turn and meet Hopkins, as they knew the direction 
he Avas coming, in stead of fleeing pell-mell 200 miles, in 
another direction ? 

But to what place did they flee ? He says to Camp 
Russell, Avhich was about a mile north of Edwardsville, 
in Madison county. But he adds that they were saluted 
by the guns of Fort Chartres, which, hoAvever, happens 
to be an old dilapidated fort some forty or fifty miles from 
Camp Russell. 

He calls this a short and energetic campaign, and 
claims great credit for their patriotic services. A more 
extraordinary hallucination is not on record, unless it 
was the case of the monomaniac who worked himself 
into the belief that his legs Avere glass, and was afraid to 
use them, lest they should break. 



40 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Of himself Reynolds says, on page 139, "In this small 
matter I never fired my gun, as I saw no occasion for 
it " ; and on page 141, "I recollect all the booty I took was 
a deer-skin, sewed fast all around, and it full of corn. It 
rained in the evening, and my corn-sack got wet, which 
caused it to become as slippery as a fish ; but I hung to 
it, and got it into camp that night." Yet for these serv- 
ices, and those in another campaign to Peoria, the next 
fall, in which no one fired a gun, he assumed the title of 
'The old Ranger'; and on account of this title, not his 
services, he was enabled to obtain the best offices in the 
state, as long as he lived. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. ERECTION AND DESTRUCTION OF 

FORT CLARK. 



"In September, 1813, Gen. Howard inarched with about 
1400 men from Portage des Sioux for Peoria," — BeeJS* 
Gazetteer, 144- It required but little fighting to take 
possession of and hold the place, and they built a work 
which became of some notoriety in the vicinity, called 
Fort Clark, in honor of Gen. George Rogers Clark, the 
celebrated hero of Vincennes and Kaskaskia. This fort 
was a simple stockade, constructed by planting two rows 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 41 

of logs firmly in the ground, near each other, and filling 
the space between with earth. This, of course, was not 
intended as a defense against artillery, of which the 
Indians had none. This fort was about a hundred feet 
square, with a ditch along each side. It did not stand 
with a side to the lake, but with a corner toward it. The 
corner farthest from the lake was on the upper side of 
Water street, near the intersection of the upper line of 
Water and Liberty streets. From there the west line ran 
diagonally across the intersection of Water and Liberty 
streets, nearly to the corner of the transportation ware- 
house, at the lower corner of Liberty and Water streets. 
At this corner was what I suppose military men would 
call a bastion; that is, there was a projecting corner made 
in the same manner as the side walls, and so constructed, 
as I imagine, as to accommodate a small cannon to com- 
mand the ditches. And the same had no doubt been at 
the opposite corner; but when I came to the country, in 
Xovember, 1831, there was no vestige of it remaining. 
In fact, at that time there was but little to show that 
there had ever been a fortification there, except some 
burnt posts along the west side, and a square of some ten 
or twelve feet at the south corner, and a ditch nearly filled 
up, on two sides of this square and on the west side of 
the fort. The fort had been burnt down to the embank- 
ment of this square and of the west side. After which the 
embankments had been mostly worn away by the rains 
and other means, until that part of the logs that was 
under ground had become charred ji>osts. Some of them, 
however, had become entirely decayed and were gone. 
6 



42 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

On the other sides there was but little to be seen of logs 
or embankment. I lived where the transportation ware- 
house is for more than ten years, and when I leveled 
down the southerly angle, for my own convenience, one 
of those posts became high enough and was strong enough 
for a hitching-post, and I employed a blacksmith (Isaac 
Evans) to put hooks in it for that purpose. That post 
was used for that purpose until I removed from there in 
May, 1844. It was then taken up by Mr. Drown, and 
sawed up into walking-canes, and sold on speculation at 
fifty cents each. 

Here is a subject worthy of the philosopher. This log 
remained in the ground, and in the weather, about thirty- 
one years, and was then mostly sound. Why did it so 
greatly outlast the others? This, it is true, was white 
or burr oak — I believe the latter, — and they are both 
generally durable wood, but not to this extent. Farmers 
are well satisfied to have either white or burr oak to last 
half of this time. 

I have heard that this old fort was burnt in 1819; but 
the following letter from Col. Hubbard, in answer to one 
I had written to him, for information, seems to fix it 
in 1818. 

Chicago Dec. 30th, l*vr>. 
C. Baleance, Esq. 

Dear Sir: In reply to yours of the 20th, I have to 
say that I was in Peoria the last days of 1818, for the 
first time, on my way to St. Louis passing there, return- 
ing about the 20th ^November, and wintering about one 
mile above Hennepin. It Avas my first year as an Indian 
trader. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 43 



As we rounded the point of the lake, above Peoria, on 
our down trip, we noticed that old Fort Clark was on fire, 
just blazing up. Reaching it, we found about 200 Indians 
congregated, enjoying a war-dance, painted hideously, 
with scalps on their spears and in their sashes, which 
they had taken from the heads of Americans, in the 
war with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815. They were 
dancing, rehearsing their deeds of bravery, etc. These 
were the only people then there, or in that vicinity. I 
never knew of a place called Creve-Coeur 

I have a vivid recollection of my first arrival there. A 
warrior, noticing me (then a boy of 1G), asked Mr. Des 
Champs, the chief of our expedition, who I was. He 
replied that I was his adopted son, just from Montreal; 
but this was not credited. The Indian said I was a young 
American, and seemed disposed to quarrel with me. 
Des Champs, Avishingto mix with the Indians, left a man 
on the boat with me, telling him not to leave, but take 
care of me, not to go out. Through this man, I learned 
what the purport of the conversation was. The Indian 
remained at the bow of the boat talking to me through 
this man, who interpreted, saying, among other things, 
that I was a young American, and taking from his sash 
scalp after scalp, saying they were my nations, he saw I 
was frightened. I was never more so in my life, fairly 
trembling with fear. His last effort to insult me was 
taking a long-haired scalp, . . . [Here the Colonel 
describes the particular way in which the Indian made it 
very wet, and then proceeds] and then shaking it so that 
it sprinkled me in the face. In a moment all fear left me, 
and I seized Mr. Des Champs's double-barreled gun, 
took good aim, and fired. The man guarding me was 
standing about halfway between us, and, just as I pulled 
trigger, he struck up the gun, and thereby saved the life 
of the Indian, and perhaps mine also. It produced great 
confusion, Des Champs and all our men running to their 



44 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

boats. After a short consultation among the old traders, 
Des Champs ordered the boats to push out, and we de- 
scended the stream and went down three or four miles, 
and camped on the opposite side of the river. That was 
my first experience of hostile array with my red brethren. 

Yours, etc., 

G. S. HlTBBARD. 

Since writing the above, I have talked with Josiah 
Fulton and William Blanchard, who first came here in 
1819, and they are positive that they then found it on fire, 
and put it out. Perhaps they are both right. Perhaps 
when it was first set on fire it was only partly con- 
sumed. Earth having been filled in between the pickets, 
they would not burn fast, and the fire would be easily 
extinguished. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENTS AT PEORIA 

From the mil of 1813 until the spring of 1819, nearly 
six years, no white man attempted to reside at this place. 
It was wholly abandoned by the French population who 
had formerly lived here. No man who had lived here 
previous to the destruction of their village in 1813 ever 
attempted to reside here again, nor did any of their de- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 45 

scendants, except that one Fortier, whose wife was de- 
scended from one of the old settlers, was here for a while, 
as long as he pleased, and then went away. Not only 
Peoria, during that time, but all the country as far south 
as the distance of more than a hundred miles, as far east 
as the Wabash river, as far north as the north pole (ex- 
cept a garrison at Chicago and one at Green Bay), and 
as far west as the Pacific Ocean, was one broad, howling 
wilderness, inhabited only by savage beasts, and wild 
men, 'more savage far than they'. 

In the spring of 1819, seven men, then living in a set- 
tlement called Shoal Creek, Clinton Co., Illinois, to wit, — 
Abner Eads, a Virginian by birth; I. Hersey, a New- 
Yorker; Seth Fulton and Josiah Fulton, Virginians; S. 
Daugherty, J. Davis and T. Russell, Kentuckians, made 
up a company to emigrate to Peoria, then called Fort 
Clark. Eads and Hersey came through by land, with 
two pack-horses. The others came up the Mississippi 
and Illinois rivers, in what was then known, in the West, 
as a keel-boat. 

Eads and Hersey, in coming through the trackless 
wilderness, struck the Illinois at or near the place where 
Meredosia now stands, in stead of Peoria; but, being 
there, they crossed over to the west side, and made their 
way some how, but how I know not, up the west side to 
Peorin. Before roads were opened and bridges built be- 
tween Meredosia and Peoria, on the west side of the 
river, the country was one of the worst to travel in I have 
ever seen. On the west side there are broad, low lands, 
full of lakes, swamps, and lagoons, and all except the 



46 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

lakes covered with dense forests and brushwood. And 
beyond all this is a row of hills of from half a mile to 
a mile wide, also covered with tall trees and under- 
brush. Moreover, a half-dozen streams must be crossed 
that are some times too deep to ford. Whereas, had they 
taken the east side of the river, they would have had 
but two streams of any note to cross, and might have had 
smooth, dry prairie the most of the way. But the 
country was not then known. So Lewis and Clark 
crossed the Rocky Mountains at so high and cold a place 
that in June there was more snow on the mountains than 
they could surmount, and they had to go back to a 
A'alley, where they could find provender for their horses, 
until the snow melted. But now people understand the 
country better. 

Eads and Hersey, however, succeeded in getting 
through to Peoria, on the 17th day of April, 1819, and 
pitched their tents against some of the remaining timbers 
of Fort Clark, which had been burnt by the Indians. On 
the 19th Eads, meeting with a deserter from Fort Dear- 
born, at Chicago, coming down the river in a canoe, left 
Hersey in charge of their horses and camp, and passed 
down the river with the deserter, to see what had be- 
come of his comrades and keel-boat. A few miles below, 
however, in the neighborhood of Lamarsh creek, he met 
them, in good health and spirits, and turned back with 
them, and all arrived safely at Peoria the same day. 

Their tents and boats served them for shelter and hab- 
itation until they could fit up two cabins, that some one, 
perhaps the United States soldiers, had put up, but had 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 47 

not covered nor finished. These pioneers immediately 
planted fifteen or twenty acres of corn and potatoes. 

In the latter part of May Mr. Eads started to Shoal 
Creek for his family. About the first of June he arrived 
there, and by the eighth or tenth of June he had his little 
affairs closed up, and his wife and three children, and as 
much household and kitchen furniture as a pioneer deems 
indispensable, in his wagon, and all on the way to Peoria. 
He had now learned more of the country, and 'struck a 
bee-line ' north through the high prairie, and came to the 
Illinois at the high land on which Pekin has since been 
built. He followed the river up to the next high land, 
where the village of Wesley stands, and there crossed 
over, and soon got to Peoria. His object in crossing 
there probably was to avail himself of the aid of any 
Indians or Indian canoes there might be there to aid 
him in crossing the river ; for that was in those days a 
trading-post, and there were generally both Indians and 
canoes to be found there. 

On or about the 10th of June, Capt. Jade Warner ar- 
rived here from St. Louis, with a keel-boat loaded with 
salt and provisions, and a seine for fishing in the lake. 
His company consisted of Isaac De Boice, James Goff, 
William Blanchard, David Barnes, Charles Sargent, and 
Theodore Sargent. They spent the season catching and 
salting fish, in bulk, as is some times done with pork 
when barrels are scarce. 

But little, in those days, was known of this part of the 
country ; and, had ever so much been known about it, it 
was almost inaccessible to other parts of the world. 



48 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

There were then neither roads, bridges, nor canals, and 
it was a long and tedious way to come down the Ohio 
and up the Mississippi and Illinois, or by the lakes, and 
down a hundred miles overland to the navigable waters 
of the Mississippi or Illinois. Besides, for a large por- 
tion of the United States it was several hundred miles to 
the lakes or the Ohio. The consequence was that our 
country filled up slowly : so slowly that, in 1825, when 
Peoria county was organized, the whole country coming 
within its jurisdiction, including the whole north half of 
the state — Galena and Chicago, — -contained only a pop- 
ulation of 1236 souls. 

In those days people, in speaking of coming to this 
place, called it going or coming to Fort Clark. And the 
legislature, in the act creating Peoria county, called it "An 
act to form a new county out of the country in the vicin- 
ity of Fort Clark." But they called the county Peoria, 
and located the county-seat on a particular quarter-sec- 
tion ; and when the county commissioners had the town- 
site surveyed, they called it Peoria, and in a short time 
Fort Clark was dropped, and the place was universally 
called Peoria. This name is said to have been derived 
from a tribe of Indians, who took possession of the 
country about Lake Peoria, and transmitted to it their 
name; but travelers and historians have not agreed in 
the spelling of the name. I have seen it spelt Piorias, 
Proraria and Proneroa. Hennepin wrote it Pimitouii; 
but this, I suppose, is another name given to it (as Peoria 
was) after a tribe of Indians, who were destroyed or 
driven away by the Peorias. This word is also variously 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 49 

spelt : I have seen it terminate with one i, with two i's, 
and with three. There were Indians here, when I came, 
who called the place Cock-meek; bnt what they meant 
by it I neA*er knew. The French some times called it 
O-Pa, their mode of pronouncing Au Pied, the foot, 
meaning the foot of the lake. However, in old times 
they called their town, which was about a mile and a 
half above the outlet, Peoria; and when they began to 
build at the outlet, they called that place La ville de 
Maillet (after John B. Maillet, who first built there), or 
the New Village of Peoria ; but in process of time, when 
the old village had become entirely abandoned, the name 
Peoria became transferred to the new village, and so it 
came to be generally called, until the building of Fort 
Clark. 



CHAPTEPv XII. 



STATE OF ILLINOIS AND SUNDRY COUNTIES, INCLUDING PEO- 
RIA, ORGANIZED. 



On the 18th of April, 1818, Congress passed "An act 
to enable the people of the- Illinois Territory to frame a 
constitution and state government, and for the admission 
of said state into the Union." 

On the 26th of August, 1818, a convention met at Kas- 
kaskia to form a constitution for the State of Illinois. 
7 



50 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






Under a constitution made by this convention the state 
government went into operation, and so continued until 
the first day of April, 1848, when the present constitu- 
tion, which had been adopted by a convention in the pre- 
vious August, went into operation. 

The first constitution was made by men living in the 
southern part of the state — that portion that, for some 
whimsical reason, iscalled Egypt. Xot a man was in the 
convention that formed it from any portion of the state 
north of Madison and Crawford counties. The counties 
represented were the following, and by the following 
delegates : 

St. Clair county, — John Messenger and Jas. Lemen, jr. 



Randolph " 

Madison " 

Gallatin " 

Johnson " 

Edwards " 
White 

Monroe " 

Pope " 

Jackson " 

Crawford " 
Bond 

Union " 

"Washington " 

Franklin " 



— George Fisher and Elias Kent Kane. 

— B. Stephenson, Joseph Borong, and 
Abraham Priekett. 

— Michael Jones, Leonard "White, and 
Aclolphus Frederick Hubbard. 

— Hezekiah West and Wm. McFatridge. 

— Seth Gard and Levi Compton. 

— Willis Hargrave and Wm. McIIenry. 

— Caldwell Cams and Enoch Moore. 

— Samuel Omelveny and Ferguson. 

— Conrad Will and James Hall, jr. 

— Joseph Kitchell and Ed. X. Cullom. 

— Thomas Kirkpatrick and Samuel G. 
Morse. 

— William Echols and John Whiteacre. 

— Andrew Bankson. 

— Isham Harrison and Thomas Roberts. 



William C. Greenup, Secretary of the Convention. 






HISTOEY OF PEORIA. 51 

We have recently elected and have now in session a con- 
vention to amend or remodel our constitution, which con- 
sists of eighty-four members : sixteen of them are from the 
country which then composed the above-named counties, 
and sixty-eight of them from the residue of the state, which 
was then a ' desert wild' and had no voice in the convention 
that formed our present constitution. What a mighty 
change of jurisdiction is here. Although that portion in the 
south which originally gave law to the state has greatly in- 
creased in population, yet the North has increased in so 
much greater ratio that the then wilderness gives now 
about four-fifths of the delegates, against one-fifth given by 
the then populated part of the state. 

As proofs of all the French claims were made at Ed- 
wardsville, and many of our first deeds were recorded 
there, this is, perhaps, a proper place to explain why that 
was so. The first governor of the Illinois territory 
was Gen. St. Clair. He, by proclamation, divided the 
whole territory into three counties, and so it remained 
until the 14th of September, 1812, when Governor 
Edwards, by proclamation, established the county of 
Madison, with the following boundaries, to wit: "Be- 
ginning on the Mississippi, to run with the second town- 
ship above Cahokia east, until it strikes the dividing line 
between the Illinois and Indiana territories ; thence with 
the said dividing line to the line of Upper Canada; 
thence with said line to the Mississippi; thence down 
the Mississippi to the place of beginning." There may 
be some doubt as to the meaning of this boundary; 
but, by any construction that can be put upon it, it in- 



52 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

eluded Peoria, and more than three-fourths of the state, 
and Edwardsville having been laid off and become the 
county-seat of this great county is the reason of some of 
our land documents being found at that place. But a 
few of them were recorded in Pike county; that is 
because, on the 31st of January, 1821, Pike county was 
established by an act of the legislature, witli the follow- 
ing boundaries: "Beginning: at the mouth of the Illinois 
river, and running thence op the middle of said river to 
the forks of the same; thence up the south fork of said 
river until it strikes the state line of Indiana; thence 
north with said line to the north boundary-line of this 
state ; thence west to the west boundary-line of the state ; 
and thence with said line to the place of beginning." 

On the 28th of January, 1823, by an act of the legisla- 
ture, the County of Fulton was carved out of the above 
territory, and for county purposes the territory since 
composing Peoria county was attached, so that at the 
following election the people (what few there were of 
them) had to go down to Lewistown to vote, and by a 
little management beat the Fultonites in electing a 
sheriff: Abner Eads beating Ossian M. Ross, the Fulton 
man. 

On the 13th of January, 1825, the legislature passed 
a law establishing the County of Peoria, with the fol- 
lowing boundaries, to wit: "Beginning where the line 
between townships eleven and twelve north intersects the 
Illinois river; thence west with said line to the range-line 
between ranges four and five east; thence south with said 
line to the range-line between townships seven and eight; 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 53 

thence east to the line between ranges five and six; 
thence south to the middle of the main channel of the 
Illinois river; thence up along the middle of the main 
channel of said river to the place of beginning." 

The second section of said bill, as a temporary arrange- 
ment, added, for county purposes, all the land north of 
township 20 of the third principal meridian, and between 
the said third meridian and the Illinois, which had been 
a part of Sangamon county. 

The third section locates the county-seat on the north- 
east quarter of section nine, of town eight north of the 
base line, and range eight east of the fourth principal 
meridian, which still contains the best-improved part of 
the city. 

The ninth section attaches, in the same manner as is 
provided by section two, all the land north of Peoria 
county, the Illinois river, and the Kankakee river. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. 

The first county commissioners under that law were 
William Holland, Joseph Smith, and Nathan Dillon. 
They met at Peoria, on the eighth day of March, 1825. 
They appointed Norman Hyde their clerk, and Aaron 



54 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 

Hawley their treasurer. On the first clay they made an 
order that the county-seat be established at Peoria. 
(This was nugatory, for the act of the legislature had 
fixed that.) Also, that a court-house be erected, twenty 
feet square, and nine feet between the floor and the joists; 
and a clerk's office, fourteen feet square. But at the next 
meeting of the board, which was held four days after, it 
was ordered that those orders be rescinded, — probably 
because some one suggested to them that they had no 
money, for they immediately passed an order " that all 
property subject to a county tax be taxed one-half of one 
per cent, on the value of the same." 

No such court-house or jail were ever built. The pres- 
ent court-house, with rooms in it for clerks" offices, was 
built in 1834. Previously to this the court was held in a 
small log building, about 16 by 18 feet square, at or near 
where the Fort Clark Mill stands. 

On the 8th of June Hyde resigned the office of clerk, 
and John Dixon was appointed in his stead. On this day 
the order for a one-tralf per Tent, tax was rescinded, and 
a tax of one per cent. laid. 

On the 7th of December, 1825, the county was di- 
vided into three election precincts. One was called the 
Chicago precinct, and Alexander Wolcott, John Kinzie, 
and John Baptiste Beaubien, all inhabitants of Chicago, 
were appointed judges. 

This was called the County Commissioners"' Court, and 
its powers were similar to those now exercised by the 
Board of Supervisors. 

On the 5th of September, 182G, Nathan Dillon, William 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 55 

Holland and John Hamlin appeared and qualified as 
county commissioners. John Dixon still clerk, and 
Samuel Fulton sheriff. 

At the June term, 1827, John Hamlin, George Sharp 
and Henry Thomas were county commissioners; but 
clerk and sheriff remained as before. Here it should be 
observed that none of the first set of county commissioners 
were elected from Peoria county proper, but from the 
country attached to it for judicial purposes. Of the sec- 
ond set, one (John Hamlin) was from Peoria county 
proper, but of the last set all were from Peoria county 
proper. 

On the 4th of August, 1828, Orin Hamlin was sheriff, 
and Isaac E^mon and Francis Thomas were elected 
county commissioners, avIio with George Sharp now. 
composed the board. 

On the 1st of May, 1830, Stephen Stillman was ap- 
pointed clerk, in place of John Dixon, resigned. 

On the 7th of June, 1830, Isaac Waters was appointed 
to take the census of the county proper, and found the 
increase in five years to be 556. 

This record shows that at the September term George 
Sharp, John Hamlin and Stephen French composed the 
board of county commissioners; Stephen Stillman, clerk; 
Henry B. Stillman, sheriif; and Resolved Cleveland, 
coroner. 

On the 4th of April, 1831, Resolved Cleveland was 
elected county commissioner, in place of George Sharp, 
deceased. 

On the 6th of June, 1831, Isaac Waters was appointed 
clerk, in place of Stephen Stillman, resigned. 



56 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

On the 5th of November, 1831, John Coyle was elect- 
ed county commissioner, in place of John Hamlin, 
resigned. 

On the 5th of March, 1832, Aquila Wren was elected 
county commissioner, in place of Stephen French, 
resigned. 

At the September term, John Coyle, Aquila Wren and 
Edwin S. Jones sat as county commissioners, and John 
W. Caldwell acted as sheriff. 

At an election on the 4th of August, 1834, John Coyle, 
Orin Hamlin and Andrew Tharp were elected county 
commissioners, and William Compiler sheriff. 

On the 30th of April, 1835, William Compher was ap- 
pointed to take the census, and found the increase in five 
years to be 1407. 

On the 1st of June, 1835, William Mitchell was ap- 
pointed clerk, in the place of Isaac Waters, removed. 

At an election held on the 6th of October, 1835, 
Thomas Bryant was elected sheriff, in place of William 
Compher, resigned. 

At the September term, 1836, Aquila Wren, Samuel 
T. McKean and William J. Phelps took their seats as 
county commissioners, Mitchell as clerk, and Bryant as 
sheriff. 

At the September term, 1838, Clark I). Powell, Smith 
Frye and Moses Harlan took their seats as county com- 
missioners; same clerk and sheriff. 

On the 10 th of January, 1840, William Hale was elected 
a county commissioner, in place of Moses Harlan, who 
had been elected to the legislature. A. W. Harkness 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 57 

was appointed to take the census, and found an increase 
in five years of 3842. 

To trace the proceedings of the county commissioners 
any further down toward our own times would, I pre- 
sume, be uninteresting to one whose object is to read the 
history of the City of Peoria. 

The civil list for 1844 was as follows: 

John D. Caton, Judge of the Circuit Court. 

Benjamin F. Fridley, State's Attorney. 

Thomas P. Smith, ) 

Clementius Ewalt, r County Commissioners. 

William Dawson, ) 

William M. Dodge, County Treasurer and Assessor. 

Julius A. Johnson, Collector. 

George C. McFadden, Surveyor. 

Charles Kettelle, Recorder. 

Smith Frye, Sheriff. 

Chester Hamlin, Coroner. 

John C. Heyl, Public Administrator. 

William Mitchell, Clerk of both courts. 

William H. Fessenden, Probate Justice. 

Dennis Blakeley, Thomas Bryant and Jonathan K. 
Cooper, Justices of the Peace. 

William Weis, Thomas Mercer, Daniel E. Oakley 
aid Jacob Silzell, Constables. 

The mode of governing counties by three county com- 
missioners was continued in Peoria up to April 8th, 1850. 
Previously to that date the legislature passed a law estab- 
lishing what is called 'Township Organization'; that is, 
a law erecting each township into a sort of little munici- 
8 ' 



58 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



pality, with the right to regulate its own internal affairs 
to some extent, and with the right to be represented in 
a larger municipal body for the whole county, called 
the Board of Supervisors. But this law was unpopular 
among western people, and to get the legislature to 
adopt it, it became necessary to add a clause to the law 
that it should not take effect in any county until a ma- 
jority of the legal voters of the county, at any general 
election, should vote for it. The eastern people generally 
voted for the law, and the western and southern people 
generally voted against it; but the foreigners, not being 
acquainted with either mode, followed as their leaders 
went. Some counties adopted it, but the larger portion 
did not. The door being open all the time, however, for 
those objecting to come into the measure, and being 
closed against any after having adopted it returning to 
the old plan, and the new plan furnishing more offices 
than the other, which, to Americans, is an unanswerable 
argument in favor of any measure, the thing has been so 
managed that, in a little less than twenty years, sixty- 
six counties have come into the measure; leaving only 
thirty-six which still stand out, and refuse to adopt the 
system. Peoria county was one of the first that adopted 
the system; and hence the records show that on the 8th 
of April, 1850, the first board of supervisors assembled 
at Peoria, and the board was organized with the follow- 
ing members, viz: Stephen C. Wheeler, John Combs, 
Samuel Dimon, Josiah Fulton, Charles S. Strother, Jona- 
than Brassfield, Benjamin Slane, Isaac Brown, L. B. 
Cornwell, William W. Church, Clark W. Stanton and 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 59 

David R. Gregory, Supervisors; and Charles Kettelle, 
Clerk. Samuel Dimon was elected Chairman of the 
board, for one year. 

By such aboard, subject to have the members changed 
at every election, we have been governed from that day 
to this. 

At present the following persons compose the board, viz : 
John Waugh, Horace G. Anderson, D. M. Baty, Joseph 
Burdett, Peter Cline, Samuel Caldwell, Seth W. Free- 
man, John W. Fuller, Louis Green, James H. Hart, Emil 
Huber, L. F. Jones, George Jenkins, Albert F. Lincoln, 
Engelbert Nader, Ralph Phillips, William Rowcliff, Sam- 
uel S. Slane, Edgar Ayres, Cyrus Tucker, Otto Triebel, 
M. B. Van Patten, E." G. Webster, Patrick Ward, I). 
C. Wheeler, and Lorin Wilder. Col. John D. McClure, 
Clerk. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FIRST CIRCUIT COURT. TRIAL OF NQMAQUE, ETC. 

The first circuit court ever held in Peoria was on the 
14th of November, a.d. 1825. John York Sawyer acted 
as judge, John Dixon as clerk, Samuel Fulton as sheriff, 
and John Turney as attorney-general pro tern. The grand 
jurors were John Hamlin, Stephen French, Abner Cooper, 
George Love, Elias P. Avery, Thomas Dillon, Henry 



GO HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Thomas, George Harlan, Isaac Waters, Augustus Lang- 
worthy, George Sharp, Seth Wilson, John Cline, George 
('line, Isaac Perkins, John Philips, and Major Donaho. 

At this term of the court, Xomaque, an Indian, was 
tried for the murder of a Frenchman, and found guilty, 
and sentenced to suffer death; but the case was carried 
to the Supreme Court, and the judgment reversed, and a 
new trial granted, as any one may see by looking into 
Breese's Reports, which may be found in most of the old 
law-offices. The Peorians had no jail, and they got 
tired of the expense of guarding Xomaque, and finally 
let him go. The jurors who tried him were Austin 
Crocker, Allen S. Daugherty, Alexander MeXaughten, 
Walter Dillon, Henry Xeely, William Woodrow, Peter 
Dumont, Aaron Peed, Abram Galentine, Josiah Fulton, 
Cornelius Doty, and David Matthis. 

That this Indian was guilty of murder there has never 
been any doubt; but that his trial was conducted in a 
disorderly and shameful manner is apparent from the re- 
port of the case above referred to; but more irregularities 
than are there named, I have no doubt, occurred, for all 
the old settlers speak of it as a drunken proceeding. 
The record of the circuit court does not show what irreg- 
ularities occurred, but the judge entered several fines 
against the lawyers for ' a contempt of court ', without 
stating in what the contempt consisted. 

Many stories have been told about this Indian by the 
old settlers, and some of them have been contradicted 
by others; and because I do not know the truth, I omit 
them all. The old settlers even disagree as to how he 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. Gl 



came to his death. He left the neighborhood of Peoria 
before I came here, and was never in the place afterward, 
to my knowledge. He probably was afraid of Peorians. 
When I came here the story had got to be an old one, 
and no body cared to punish him if he had come back; 
but every one that I heard speak of him spoke of him as 
a very bad man. He had no friends here. 

A remarkable feature in this case is that William S. 
Hamilton, a son of the celebrated Alexander Hamilton, 
appeared in defense of the Indian. At the time of this 
trial I believe that he lived in Springfield, though at one 
time he lived in Galena. He never resided at Peoria, 
but was employed by the county commissioners of Peoria 
county, in 1826, to survey the town, now city, of Peoria, 
and did survey the first sixteen blocks; and he, or the 
commissioners for whom he acted, gave names to the 
following streets, which names they still bear: Water, 
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Liberty, 
Fulton, Main, Hamilton, and Fayette. He at the same time, 
under authority of the surveyor-general at St. Louis, sur- 
veyed the 'French claims' of Peoria; but as his survey 
was not approved, it has cut no figure in the many suits 
about those claims. 



62 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. JUDGE YOUNG, FORD : ETC. 

John York Sawyer had ceased to be judge before I 
came to Peoria, and Richard M. Young was occupying 
that honorable position. It may be amusing to the pres- 
ent generation to be informed that in 1832 and 1833 the 
Hon. R. M. Young's judicial circuit included Quincy, 
Peoria, Rock Island, Galena, Ottawa, and Chicago : in 
fact, all the country which now constitutes the counties 
of Pike, Adams, Brown, Schuyler, Fulton, McDonough, 
Hancock, Henderson, Warren, Knox, Peoria, Marshall, 
Stark, Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, Putnam, Bureau, 
Lasalle, DeKalb, Lee, Whiteside, Carroll, Jo Daviess, 
Stephenson, Winnebago, Ogle, Boone, McIIenry, Lake, 
Cook, DuPage, Kane, Grundy, and Will. 

Here was a country large enough for a kingdom, and 
as fertile as the Garden of Eden, but almost destitute of 
population. The Indians were compelled, partly by the 
force of arms, and partly by public opinion, to leave the 
country in 1832, and there were but few white men in all 
this tract of country at that time, and that few had not 
been here long enough to have started much litigation. 
In the spring of 1833, three days were ample time to clear 
the docket in Peoria, Ottawa, or Chicago, although there 
wove then but two terms of court held in a year. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 63 

In those days there were but few roads or bridges any 
where in the north half of the state. No road of any 
kind had then been opened from Peoria to Chicago. In 
fact, the most essential requisites of a good judge, for 
this circuit, were to own a good horse and be a good 
rider. These two requisites Judge Young possessed in 
a high degree. He was a fine-looking, complaisant Ken- 
tuckian, who possessed not much legal learning, but a 
fine, high-blooded Kentucky horse, and knew well how 
to ride him. 

In May, 1833, he made his appearance in the Village 
of Peoria, and announced that he was on his way to 
Chicago to hold court. He had traveled about 130 miles, 
from Quincy, where he lived, and had to travel, as the 
trail then run, not less than 170 miles further, to hold the 
first court on his circuit. Just think of a horseback 
ride of at least 300 miles to hold a three days' court ! 

On this occasion I attended court at Chicago, partly to 
seek practice as a lawyer, and partly to see the 
country. So poor was Peoria in the way of horses, that 
I could not borrow nor hire a horse in Peoria to ride 
to Chicago. I went to the country and applied to a 
farmer who had a drove of horses, but the only broken 
ones he had he wished to use, and, as a matter of neces- 
sity, I took one 'on which man had never sat', and rode 
him to Chicago and back. I asked him why he had not 
broken his horses. He said he was too old, and his boys 
were too young. He made me welcome to the horse, 
but yet remonstrated against my taking him; for, said he, 
I am afraid he will break your neck. I told him I was 



64 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



born and raised where they made horses as a business, 
and I would risk him, if I could get on. He and his old- 
est son held him, until I had mounted him, and then let 
him go. He went furiously, some times end foremost, 
and some times side foremost, but generally in the direc- 
tion of Chicago; and ultimately, in a little more than 
three days, got there. 

Times have greatly changed since then. We can now 
go to Chicago by canal, or, what is much better, by 
either of four different railroads, in from seven and a half 
to ten hours; and in stead of three days, twice a year, to 
try what cases arise in court, it now requires a court to 
be in session nearly all the time to transact the necessary 
business. Our Peoria judge now, in stead of traveling 
over a third of the state to do the business of his circuit, 
has a circuit composed only of Peoria and Stark coun- 
ties, and Stark is a small rural county, requiring but lit- 
tle of his time. 

The above-named Judge Young deserves a furthir 
notice; and yet it is doubtful whether his memory will be 
much benefited by it, for his sun set in clouds. He was 
a very popular man, and a man of sufficient ability to fill 
any office respectably. He was at one time Judge of the 
Supreme Court, and for a term of six years he was in 
the United States Senate. At another time he was 
Clerk of the House of Representatives of Congress. For 
a number of years before his death he was a claim-agent, 
in Washington City. But for some time before his death 
he was confined in an asylum for maniacs. Of his last 
days I will not speak, because of them T know nothing, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 65 \ 



only as I have been informed by a brother of his, since 
he has passed away. If his story is true, Judge Young, 
who was once one of the most popular men in Illinois, 
passed many a day and night in a dungeon, under the 
torturing hands of fiends in human shape, in the great 
capital of the nation; and yet for a long time so secretly 
that a brother, living in that city, had no suspicion of it. 
He lived and died poor; but had he lived until now, and 
held on to certain property which has been sold by his 
wife since his death, he would be rich. One piece of 
property, which he obtained in Omaha as a fee, is said to 
be worth many thousand dollars. 

After Judo;e Young was elected to the United States 
Senate, Thomas Ford was our judge until he was elected 
Governor of the state. He did not, as office-holders 
now-a-days do, amass a fortune, but he lived and died a 
poor man. After his gubernatorial term had expired, 
he removed to Peoria, and attempted to support his wife 
and children by the practice of the law; but his health 
failed, and his wife, while rendering the kind attentions 
usually rendered by a good wife to a dying husband, 
was suddenly taken ill and died. Soon afterward he died. 
During this illness his family was furnished with food, 
and the expense of his funeral was borne, by a company 
of gentlemen, all of whom but two had been his political 
opponents, without his knowing, while alive, whence 
the aid came; and all his children but one, who was then 
about grown, were raised and educated by men who 
were his political opponents while alive. 

To show the changes that have been made in our 



9 



G6 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

county officers, and give a list of all who have held office 
under authority of the county, would alone require a vol- 
ume. I will simply add to what has been said above 
that, at present, 

Sabin D. Puterbaugh is Judge of the Circuit Court ; 

George Puterbaugh, State's Attorney ; 

George A. Wilson, Clerk of the Circuit Court; 

Samuel Gill, Sheriff of Peoria county; 

Edwin C. Silliman, County Treasurer. 

John C. Yates, Judge of the County Court ; 

Col. John D. McClure, Clerk of the County Court; 

Nicholas E. Worthington, Superintendent of Public 
Schools. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN OF PEORIA. 

At first, so few people were in the bounds of what is 
now the City of Peoria, that they were governed as a ru- 
ral district, without municipal organization. On 1st of 
March, 1831, the act of the legislature under which the 
Town of Peoria finally became incorporated as a town 
was passed ; but, for some reason, I do not remember what , 
the people did not avail themselves of it at that time. 

On the 18th of Julv, 1835, the citizens of Peoria, by a 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. G7 

vote then taken pursuant to such statute, became incorpo- 
rated — not as a city, but as a town, — and elected as trus- 
tees Rudolphus Rouse, Chester Hamlin, Rufus P. Burlin- 
game, Charles W. McClallen, and Isaac Evans. It seems, 
from the record, that they met the same day, and elected 
said Rouse as President; and, as said Evans declined 
serving, they elected Cyrus Leland in his place. 

On the 23d of the same month, they met at the store of 
Rufus P. Burlingame and elected Cyrus Leland as Clerk. 
At the same time, they passed a resolution that the 
boundary of the town should embrace an area of one 
square mile; also, at that meeting, they appointed said 
Burlingame for their Treasurer. 

On the 18th of July, 1836, there was an election held, 
and the judges of the election certified how many votes 
each candidate had received, but did not say who were 
elected ; but as the five highest on the list were Henry TT. 
Cleveland, Chester Hamlin, Thomas Philips, George B. 
Parker, and J. D. Shewalter, they seem quietly to have 
taken their seats, without any decision of the case, and 
Henry W. Cleveland seems to have taken his seat as 
President, without an election (at least, the record foils to 
show that he was elected) ; and some time after J. L. 
Marsh takes place in the record as Clerk, without any 
thing to show what right he had there. 

On the 18th February, 1837, Hon. George C. Bestor 
appears in the board, without any thing to show how he 
came there. 

On the 8th of March, Hon. E. X. Powell is made Clerk 
by resolution. 



68 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

On the 31st of July, 1837, without any reason given in 
the record to show why, nine in stead of five trustees 
were elected, to wit: James C. Armstrong, John C. 
Caldwell, Thomas J. Ilurd, Samuel H. McCrory, William 
Frisby, Samuel S. Veacock, Rudolphus Rouse, and Cyrus 
Leland. On the same day they met, and after several 
ballotings without coming to any choice, they adjourned 
to August 26th, when the strife was renewed, and resulted 
in the election of Dr. Rouse. What principle^ political 
or pecuniary, was involved in this controversy is more 
than I can divine. 

To repeat more of this town record up to the time the 
city charter was adopted, and the city government went 
into operation, I suppose would be uninteresting to the 
reader. 

It is thehightof the ambition of all northwestern villages 
to become cities. It is a matter of vanity with the peo- 
ple to have the village called a city; and every little 
third-rate politician looks forward with as ardent expec- 
tation to the day when he can be called an alderman, or 
mayor, as a male urchin does to the day when he can don 
a pair of pantaloons, or an older stripling when he can 
turn out a mustache. Hence all our villages, before there 
is any occasion for it, and before they are well able to 
bear the expense of a city organization, become incorpo- 
rated as cities; and therefore, wherever Ave go in this re- 
gion, we hear of cities. 

At the time this town organization was abolished, we 
had a population of not more than 1600. We had but 
little municipal business to do, and were too poor to en- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 69 

dure much taxation ; yet this system was abolished, to 
give way for a more expensive one, for no other reason, 
that I know of, but to have our village dignified with the 
title of city, and ourselves (as many as could attain to 
that honor) to be called alderman and mayor. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CITY ORGANIZATION, TAXATION, ETC. 

Peoria was governed as a town, by a board of trus- 
tees, as is above set forth, until the 5th of May, 1845, 
when it assumed the style and forms of a city. 

The legislature had passed "An act to incorporate the 
City of Peoria"; but the Council of Revision, either be- 
cause they did not approve it or because they forgot it, 
did not sign it. Afterward, Thompson Campbell, as 
Secretary of State, appended to it the following certifi- 
cate : " This bill having been laid before the Council of 
Revision, and ten days not having intervened before the 
adjournment of the General Assembly, and said bill not 
having been returned with the objections of the Council 
on the first day of the present session of the General 
Assembly, the same has become a law." This statute 
and certificate are both without date. But there is a 
statement prefixed to the copy before me, which says it 



?0 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

was "In force December 3d, 1844"; from which I infer 
that that ought to be the date of the certificate. 

By the first article of this charter, the people living 
within the following boundaries, viz., "fractional section 
nine, fractional section ten, the south half of section four, 
and fractional section three, in township eight north, of 
range eight east of the fourth principal meridian, and to 
the middle of the Illinois river and Lake Peoria," were 
incorporated into a body corporate and politic, to have 
perpetual succession. 

The second article provided for the election of eight 
aldermen for two years, but they were to be divided into 
two classes by lot, so that one-half should vacate their 
seats at the end of the first year, and their successors to 
be then elected ; and ever after, four to be elected every 
year. All the qualifications they were required to have 
were six months' residence in the city, and to be twenty - 
«one years of age. 

The third article provided for the election of a mayor 
for one year at a time, and whose qualifications should be 
one year's residence in the city, and to be twenty-one 
years of age. 

The fourth article provided that "All free white male 
inhabitants, over the age of twenty-one years, who are 
entitled to vote for state officers, and who shall have been 
actual residents of said city six months next preceding 
said election, shall be entitled to vote for city officers." 

The fifth article enumerates and confers all the usual 
powers that are conferred on cities, with these important 
provisos: "provided that no sum or sums of money shall 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 71 

be borrowed at a greater interest than six per cent, per 
annum, nor shall the interest on the aggregate, on all the 
sums borrowed and outstanding, ever exceed one-half of 
the city revenue arising from taxes assessed on real prop- 
erty, within the limits of the corporation." 

The sixth article confers on the mayor the usual execu- 
tive authority, and in addition provides that "He shall 
be commissioned by the governor as a justice of the 
peace for said city, and as such shall be a conservator of 
the peace in said city, and shall have power and authority 
to administer oaths," etc. "He shall have exclusive 
jurisdiction in all cases arising under the ordinances of 
the corporation, and concurrent jurisdiction with all other 
justices of the peace in all civil and criminal cases within 
the limits of the city, arising under the laws of the state/' 

The seventh article provides a mode of opening streets, 
and assessing damages in favor of those injured. Also, 
it authorizes them to assess a special tax on lots to pave 
streets and sidewalks in front of them. 

The eighth contains various ordinary provisions, and 
winds up by a provision that this charter shall be sub- 
mitted to a vote of the people, with a provision that if a 
majority of the people should vote for it, it should imme- 
diately take effect, as a law ; but if a majority of the votes 
should be against it, it should be void. 

On the 22d of April, 18-to, I find the following entry 
in the old Peoria town records: "Whereas, it appears by 
the returns of the election, held at the court-house on the 
21st of April, a.d. 1845, that one hundred and sixty-two 
votes were received in favor of the adoption of the city 



72 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



charter, entitled an act incorporating the City of Peoria, 
and thirty-five votes against the adoption thereof, which 
election was held in pursuance of the 16th section of 
article 8th of said act, said charter is therefore adopted 
by the citizens of said town : 

"Resolved, That an election be held at the court-house, 
on Monday, the 28th instant, being the 4th Monday of 
April instant, for one Mayor and eight Aldermen, for the 
City of Peoria, agreeably to the provisions of the city 
charter." 

And afterward, without date, on page 379, I find this 
entry : 

"At an election held at the court-house, on the 28th 
day of April, a.d. 1845, for the purpose of electing one 
Mayor and eight Aldermen for the City of Peoria, to 
serve until their successors are chosen, the following per- 
sons, having received the greatest number of votes, were 
declared duly elected, to wit : 

" For Mayor, William Hale. 

"For Aldermen, Jesse L. Knowlton, Peter Sweat, 
Charles Kettelle, Clark Cleveland, Chester Hamlin, John 
Hamlin, Hervey Lightner. Jacob Gale and A. P. Bartlett 
each received 168 votes, they being the next highest can- 
didates: consequently there was no choice." 

On the 5th day of May, 1845, Hale was sworn in as 
Mayor, and all the others, excluding Gale and including 
Bartlett, as Aldermen. This was done, as the record after- 
ward explains, because the Mayor drew lots between 
Messrs. Gale and Bartlett, and Bartlett drew the office. 

At the same term, Jesse L. Knowlton was appointed 
City Clerk. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 73 

On the 13th of February, 1847, the charter was 
amended, and, among other things, the boundary was 
changed, and in future the boundary was to be as follows : 
"All that district of country in fractional section sixteen, 
fractional section nine, fractional section ten, and the south 
half of sections three and four, in township eight north of 
the base line, and of range eight east of the fourth prin- 
cipal meridian, and to the middle of the Illinois river 
and Lake Peoria, are hereby declared be within the 
bounds of the City of Peoria." 

When the city government, under the said charter, 
went into operation, in May, 1845, they went to passing 
ordinances for every imaginable thing, until, in five or 
six years, those ordinances had become so numerous and 
complicated that a revision and compilation was deemed 
necessary. 

Accordingly, on the 15th of April, 1851, an ordinance 
was passed entitled "An ordinance establishing the 
Revised Ordinances of the City of Peoria." This ordi- 
nance is divided into twenty-nine chapters, called ordi- 
nances, and it occupies 96 octavo pages; but as it con- 
tains only the usual provisions concerning the internal 
police of the city, such as grades, markets, licenses, taxes, 
etc., it is perhaps unnecessary to detail those provisions 
here. The whole, when examined carefully, forces upon 
the reader the idea that the mania for taxation, that has 
greatly afflicted our country, particularly the Xorthwest, 
had most A'iolently seized our aldermen. They seem to 
look upon taxation as the great business of life, and the 
ability to squeeze the greatest amount of taxes out of a 
10 



74 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

given amount of property as the highest evidence of 
political ability. 

When our city was first organized, the taxes were laid 
on lightly; but, as it was found that people would stand 
it, they were increased, until now, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, we 
have actually paid taxes to considerably over a quarter 
of a million dollars. We have paid 

Taxes assessed for general city purposes 800,129.46 

To pay interest on railroad bonds 26,724.21 

One-mill school tax, to pay interest on school 

bonds 7,002.9-4 

School tax assessed for school purposes 33,889.71 

Bounty tax to redeem and pay interest on 

bounty bonds 21,008.83 

Taxes assessed to pay interest on water bonds 26,724.21 
Taxes to pay coupons on bonds taken by Wm. 

Smith 700.00 

Tax levied on city for state purposes 59,405.60 

Road and bridge tax 6,150.79 

Tax levied on the city for county purposes.. 56,403.78 
Dog tax, 133.00 

Total, 298,272.53 

But this falls far short of being our whole tax. We 
pay many thousand dollars annually to build churches, 
support preachers, Sunday schools, foreign missions, etc. 
We also pay taxes to a considerable amount that do not 
appear in the above table, because they are not collected 
in the usual way. For instance, the sidewalks are all re- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 75 

quired to be graded and planked by the owner of ad- 
joining property, and some times brick pavements are re- 
quired to be made in the same way. If the owner fails 
or refuses to do it, city officials perform the work and 
collect off him the amount. Many people who do busi- 
ness in the city have to pay for a license to do it, which 
is nothing more nor less than a tax. And it is the most 
oppressive kind of a tax. Those who pay it put it, with 
interest and commissions, on their customers. It can 
easily be shown that every dollar the butchers pay for 
the privilege of selling meat, in the market-house, costs 
the people ten dollars in the enhanced price of meat we 
have in consequence to pay. 

The people have never failed to vote for any tax, 
or the sale of any bonds that has been proposed, nor 
will they, as long as a majority of the voters pay none of 
the taxes. The city has voted for the following bonds : 

For the water works $320,000 

For railroads 360,000 

School bonds 84,000 

Bounty bonds 130,000 

Three-fifths of the bonds issued to Peoria and 

Hannibal RR 45,000 

Three-fifths of the bonds issued by the county to 

build jail 49,500 

Three-fifths of the bonds by same to build alms- 
house 21,000 

Three-fifths of the bonds voted for the Peoria 

and Rock Island R.R 60,000 



76 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Ninety-five one-hundredths of bonds voted by 
township of Peoria, for Peoria, Atlanta and 
Decatur R.K 95,000 

In the above cases, where three-fifths of the amount of 
the bonds are stated, the bonds had been issued by the 
County of Peoria, and three-fifths is supposed to be the 
amount the city has to pay. The last item was voted for 
by the Township of Peoria, which contains a few families 
that are not in the city proper, but the city will have to 
pay nearly all of them. We have not paid any taxes as 
yet on the 8100,000 voted for the Peoria and Rock Island 
Railroad, nor for the 8100,000 for the Peoria, Atlanta 
and Decatur Railroad, but we will have to do so next 
year, which will add about 814,000 more to our taxes. 

In the sale of these bonds we never obtained, in cash, 
the amount they call for: partly because the most of men 
have use, in their business, for all the money they can 
command, but mainly because capitalists are suspicious 
of municipal corporations, and the greater their doubts 
of their punctuality, the less they are willing to give. 
Besides, our bonds have to be sold in the East, where 
money is plentier than it is here. "We have consequently, 
in addition to a loss of fifteen to twenty per cent., to pay 
the expense of printing the bonds, to pay a broker for 
making sales, and afterward, fur paying interest; but 
however little we get for a thousand-dollar bond, we have 
to pay interest on a thousand, and ultimately pay the 
thousand itself. 

That we have been greatly benefited by the sale of 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 77 

railroad bonds is clear and indisputable; but another 
thing is equally clear, and equally indisputable : that 
there is a point beyond which this thing can not be car- 
ried with impunity; and that point, I think, is now 
reached. If we strain our credit any further, it will be 
ruined, and with it, the prospects of our city. We are 
riding on the stream of an inflated currency, and but 
for the mania above referred to, which blinds men's eyes, 
all men could see that when we return to specie pay- 
ments, and rents and every thing else are reduced to one- 
half their present price, Ave can not pay the interest on 
what we now owe, to say nothing of the expense of the city 
government. If we stop now, and contract no more 
debts, the interest on what we have contracted, including 
what will be required to finish the water works, will be 
about $300,000. When we come to specie payments, the 
whole City of Peoria can not be rented for enough to 
pay this sum. Then is not the whole city confiscated ? 
If those who have supported the city government have 
all their property taken by the bondholders, who will 
support the city government in future ? 

I remember when the rage was all the other way. So 
strong was the popular clamor against taxation, that the 
mere politician did not dare to vote for the most neces- 
sary tax, for fear of losing his place. Xow it is changed, 
and none but the most independent would dare to vote 
against any tax proposed, however unnecessary; and 
when my friends shall see these remarks, I fear some of 
them will stand aghast at my disregard of the best interests 



78 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

of the public, or, what now seems to mean the same 
thing, public opinion. 

" Truths would you tell to save a sinking land, 
All fear, none aid you, and few understand." 

The mayor of the city was intended by the charter to 
be a judicial officer and an influential personage, and the 
first mayors exercised judicial authority; but the Su- 
preme Court, in process of time, decided that mayors 
were j>recluded by our constitution, that went into oper- 
ation in 1848, from exercising judicial authority. The 
charter had not given the mayor much else but judicial 
authority, and being thus shorn of that, the office dwin- 
dled into insignificance. This need not have been entirely 
so, but the aldermen generally combined against the 
mayor, to shear him of his authority, first by giving the 
authority he ought to have exercised to the street com- 
mittee and others ; and secondly, by refusing to pay him 
for his services. For years they gave him no salary at 
all, but of late they pay him $500 per annum. They 
have, however, always allowed him a dollar a night for 
presiding over their meetings, but nothing for committee 
or day work. 

The following is the list of City Officers for 1870: 
Gardiner T. Barker, Mayor. 
Henry H. Forsyth, Clerk. 
Otto Triebel, Treasurer. 
Michael B. LoucnLix, Collector. 
M. C. Quixx, Attorney. 
Daxiel B. Allex, Surveyor and Engineer. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 79 

John M. Guill, Superintendent of Police. 
Nicholas Louis, Chief of Fire Department. 
Augustine A. Bushell, Sealer of Weights and 

Measures. 
Charles Frederick, Market Master. 
Nicholas Bergan, Harbor Master. 

Aldermen. 

3. D. Burp, 2 years. J F; w d 
John Kyan, 1 year. j 

Henry Frederick, 2 years. ) t ^ i 
Samuel A. Kixsey, 1 year. [ Second * ard " 

Ralph Phillips, 2 years. J T , . rf w d 
Larkin B. Day, 1 year. j 

Emil Huber, 2 years. ) -& -t w i 
T p> ' J y Jb ourth Ward. 

John Dolan, 1 year. \ 

Wm. T. Hanna, 2 years. ) ^. n -, ^ r ^ 
Fraxk Field, i year. \ Flfth War4 

Daniel Costello, 2 years. ) «. ,, w n 
Isaac Lamplugh, 1 y ear. \ Slxth ^ ar(1 - 

S? , ^ T !75 2 „ yeaiS - l Seventh Ward. 
John H. Hall, 1 year. j 



80 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 



At first, court was held, as heretofore stated, in a 
small log house, about fourteen by sixteen feet square ; 
but this soon became so crowded that an upper room over 
a store on Water street was procured, and used while 
the court-house was being built. The brick for the pres- 
ent court-house was made in 1833, by Samuel S. Haekleton. 
At the January term, 1834, the county Commissioners' 
court passed an order that sealed proposals be made to 
the clerk of said court, by the next term, for the building 
of a court-house. At said term of said court, the propo- 
sals of Charles W. McClallen for the mason work, and 
those of George B. Macey for the carpenter's and joiner's 
work, were accepted. That building, which is still used 
as a court-house, is said to have cost 815,000. If that is 
so, the people understood then as now how to 'pick the 
public goose '. Labor was so low then, compared to what 
it is now, that it ought not to have cost more than half 
that sum. The court-house has several times been 
changed since, to suit the whim of those who were tem- 
porarily in power. The bench, the bar, the jury-box, 
spectators' seats, and stairs, have all been several times 
changed. The stairs formerly were inside the building. 

In early times we had no jail. It has often been put 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 81 

in print that the cellar under the old court-house was the 
jail. There was a sort of cellar under it, said to have 
been made to store fur-skins in. I never saw it used as 
a jail, nor was it at all fit for such a use, — a dog could 
have scratched out of it; but about the year 1834, a jail 
was built of square logs, on the alley between Main and 
Hamilton and between Monroe and Perry streets. It 
was sixteen feet square, and fourteen feet high. The 
lower story was constructed of three thicknesses of logs 
— two lying horizontally, and one between them standing 
perpendicularly, so that, should an attempt be made to 
bore the logs out, the perpendicular ones would come 
down, and stop the hole. The upper story was of only 
one thickness of logs. To give the work strength, these 
lo^s were dove-tailed at the corners. Above the strono- 
room there was a strong floor, and a trap-door. Through 
this trap-door prisoners were passed, and then the ladder 
drawn up. The floor of the lower part was made by 
square timbers fitted close together, and the whole 
covered with oaken plank spiked down. This building 
is said to have cost $1000. Such timber as composed it, 
all but the roof, stairs, floors and doors, could then be 
bought, delivered on the ground, for eight cents per foot, 
running measure, and men to put it together for from a 
dollar to a dollar and a half a day. From this the reader 
can determine whether that pen ought to have cost a 
thousand dollars. 

This jail proving to be altogether too small, and very 
inconvenient, another jail was built in 1849, partly of 
stone and partly of brick, at the intersection of Wash- 
11 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



ington and North-Fayette streets. That building was 
used as a jail until recently, although exceedingly incon- 
venient on account of its distance from the court-house. 
Every body saw this, but there were two difficulties in 
the way of amending it. This building cost $11,000, 
and then for the public to be taxed for another seemed 
extravagant; but then the county commissioners, who 
owned the whole town plat, had sold all the ground about 
the public square for little more than nominal prices, and 
now to buy back one of those lots, for ten or twenty 
times as much as they had received for it, was more than 
they thought their popularity would stand. But the ne- 
cessity became greater, and people became less inclined to 
watch their constituents, and finally, in 1867, the board 
of supervisors, the successors to the board of county com- 
missioners, bought a piece of ground for $6000 that the 
commissioners had sold for about $75, and on that lot they 
have, at the expense of about $75,000, erected much the 
finest jail I ever saw, and they have it now in use for the 
incarceration of prisoners. 

A question may be asked, how we secured prisoners 
before we had a jail. I answer, we some times seta 
guard over them, some times let them go on bail, even 
when it was doubtful whether the case was bailable, and 
some times we sent them to neighboring counties for se- 
curity. As the legislature was constantly forming new 
counties, and it required some time to put up public 
buildings, an act was passed requiring prisoners to be 
sent to some other county for confinement, when there 
was no sufficient jail in the county in which they were 
charged with criminal conduct. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 83 

In old times there was literally no clerk's office in 
Peoria county. Isaac Waters, who was clerk of both 
courts when I came here, lived in a cabin made of small 
unhewn logs, daubed with common mud, not half large 
enough to accommodate his family; and yet he had no 
other place to keep the few books and papers belonging to 
said courts. These he some times could not find, and 
was blamed when he perhaps deserved more to be pitied. 
After the present court-house was completed, which was 
in 1836, the clerks and the sheriff were accommodated 
with rooms in the first story. Originally the first story 
of the court-house was divided into six rooms, three of 
which were used for public offices, and the others were 
rented to the lawyers. This building was not fire-proof, 
and in process of time some became afraid our records 
might be burnt, and advocated pulling down the old house, 
and building one that should be much finer and also be 
fire-proof. Those who pay no taxes are always in favor 
of any new expenditure, because they pay none of it, 
and have a chance to get some money as it circulates; and 
in this way the most careful and the most reckless of the 
town's people became combined in favor of an expendi- 
ture of something like $100,000, but were in part over- 
powered by the farmers in the board, and in part by a 
fear of their constituents, and a compromise was made. 
They agreed to put up one wing of the great temple of 
justice first, for the protection of the records. The result 
of this compromise was our present clerks' offices, which 
cost about $19,000. They are fire-proof, and are so 
constructed as to compose a part of the great edifice, 



84 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

according to the original plan, when, at some future time, 
the plan shall be carried out. I suppose at that time 
every one expected that before now the whole edifice 
would have been completed; but the enormous debts we 
have contracted for railroads, water works, and the jail, 
make it now very uncertain when it will be done. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SCHOOLS BY INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES. 

I have not been able to learn that the French popula- 
tion of Peoria ever had a school in this place. I believe 
they had none. Several of them could read and write, 
but I presume they learned that in Canada. "When I 
came here there was no school in the village, nor was 
there any worth the name for several years afterward. 
This was not because of there being any opposition to 
education, but it was partly owing to the smallness of the 
number of children in the village, and partly to the fact 
that the people were too poor to build school-houses. They 
could with difficulty get shelter for themselves. 

There never was, since the Americans settled here, a 
party opposed to education, nor has there been one op- 
posed to public improvements, though there has been 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 85 

much dispute as to the mode; but particularly between 
those who wish to make money off the public by every 
thing they do, and those who wish to protect the public 
against such cormorants; and as education and public 
improvements have always been popular, those who de- 
sired to prey on the public have generally carried the 
elections, and had their own way in these matters, by 
raising the hue and cry against those who were equally 
zealous for education and public improvements, but who 
wished to protect the public against them, and charging 
them with being opposed to both. In the matter of 
schools, one of the most iniquitous modes of robbing the 
public has been for those intrusted by the public with 
these interests to combine with book-makers, and every 
few months condemn the present books, and require new 
ones, or new editions of old ones, to be bought. Still, as 
any schools are better than no schools, and as it is better 
to have schools at an enormous expense than not to have 
any, we may congratulate ourselves on our public schools. 
I believe the first school ever attempted in Peoria was 
in the fall of 1832. The author, seeing some children 
about, and learning that there was no school in the vill- 
age, rented a room and opened a school; but it was so 
badly patronized, for want of children, that in a short 
time it was closed. Several other attempts of this kind 
were, with more or less success, made by young ladies. 
I remember very well when Miss Morrow (who will be 
remembered by the old settlers, as the sister-in-law of the 
Burlingames and the first wife of Mr. Amos Stevens) 
came to Peoria, in 1834, she could not rent a room in the 



86 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Tillage to keep school in : finally the author hereof let her 
have, for that purpose, a small frame house he had built 
for an office, on the lot on which has since been built, by 
Mr. Herron, a block of stone-front stores. George H. 
Quigg, who will be remembered by the old settlers, but 
more by the writer hereof, came in competition with the 
young ladies in this business, in 1834 or 1835. The 
greatest trouble was the scarcity of houses. 

Among those who established private schools, in early 
times, was Rev. David Page. He called his school the 
Peoria Academy, and opened it for the reception of pupils 
on the 7th of January, 1840. In his advertisement he 
said " Children of every age are admitted, from those in 
the alphabet, and upwards through the whole circle of 
sciences, so far as they are taught in any academy. The 
branches that have been taught, above the ordinary 
branches of common schools, are geometry, algebra, sur- 
veying, natural philosojmy, chemistry, botany, celestial 
geography, astronomy, history, logic, rhetoric, composi- 
tion, declamation, and the Latin and Greek languages. 
Very small boys, in their first attempts at going to school, 
are some times placed in the female department." 

"Almost any kind of property is received 

for tuition, at a reasonable price, provided arrangements 
be made at the commencement of the quarter." This 
advertisement was published on the 1st of May, 1844. 
At that time Mr. Page had purchased a house, and 
deemed his prospects sufficient to justify him in expand- 
ing a little; but before that he had, in an unpretending 
way, taught in a hired house. Others, from time to time, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 87 

did so also, and in that way we were pretty well sup- 
plied with common schools until a system of free schools 
was introduced, which to some extent superseded all pri- 
vate schools. There have, however, always, to the pres- 
ent day, been some private schools supported by those 
who preferred them. 

In 1855, C. C. Bonney, Esq., now a lawyer of Chicago, 
established a high school, which he called the 'Peoria 
Institute \ It was located in the Baptist Church. This, 
however, was of short duration. 

The Methodist Church, in 1851, by virtue of a charter 
from the legislature, ushered into life, Avith the sound of 
trumpets, ' The Wesleyan Seminary of Peoria, Illinois '. 
They purchased the Mitchell House, at the corner of 
Fulton and Jefferson streets, and put forth a large pro- 
gramme, with a list of no less than twenty-three trustees; 
but this thing went down, before it was fairly up. 

Our Methodist brethren were so unwise as to put a 
very sanctimonious but a very immoral man at the head 
of this institution. The people were greatly pleased with 
the prospects of the seminary, and but for that unfortu- 
nate selection, it would hardly have failed of success. 
They were just going into operation, when it was sud- 
denly ascertained, from unmistakable facts, that he who 
was appointed to educate our daughters was a vile hypo- 
crite — a filthy debauchee. He fled from the state, and 
the institution sunk without an effort to save it. The 
Methodists saw at once that, although we had confidence 
in them as a Christian community, we could not trust 
them to select teachers for our daughters. 



88 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



In 1850, Rev. J. S. Chamberlain bought the large honse 
built by Capt. W. S. Moss, but now occupied by Hon. 
G. C. Bestor, and opened what he called 'St. Mary's 
School'. The school, however, did not prove a success. 

In 1855 and 1856, an effort was made, under the aus- 
pices of the Presbyterian Church, to establish the 'Peoria 
University '. An act of incorporation was obtained, and 
a lar^e amount of funds raised, with whieh an eligible 
site, on the bluff, was bought, and some progress made 
toward erecting suitable buildings; but the whole thing 
finally, before completion, as did the two academies, as 
below stated, fell into the hands of the school inspectors. 

The first house that was built on purpose for a school- 
house was built by the author in 1846, on Walnut street, 
between Washington and Adams" streets; and a private 
school was kept there until the public school-house was 
built, under the school-law of 1857, on Adams street: the 
same that now belongs to the German Turners. 

Those various private schools, in their day, answered the 
purpose very well, so far as concerned the ordinary 
branches of education ; but a general dissatisfaction arose 
as to their efficiency in teaching the higher branches of 
education; and hence the principal citizens organized 
two joint-stock companies to build and carry on two acad- 
emies — one for boys and young men, and the other for 
girls and young women, who were pretty well advanced 
in education. These companies were composed mostly, 
but not altogether, of the same persons. 

The company for a male academy was organized on the 
23d of March, 1854. Of this institution 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 80 



Hon. Onslow Peters was President; 

Mr. Amos P. Bartlett was Secretary; 

Dr. Rudolphus Rouse, ) 

Hon. P. II. K. Brotherson, /-Directors; 

Mr. John W. Hansel, ) 

Mr. II. G. Anderson, Treasurer; 

Oapt. Thomas Baldwin, ) 

Mr. William P. Phelps, - Trustees; 

Henry S. Austin, Esq., ) 

Hon. Jacob Gale, 

Capt. Hugh J. Sweeny, 

Col. C. Ballance, 



Committee to purchase a 
suitable site for the acad- 



Mr. Charles S. Clarke, emy. 

William F. Bryan, Esq., J 

On the 6th of April, 1854, said committee reported in 
favor of buying lots 10, 11, and 12, in block forty-seven, 
of Monson and Sanford's Addition, for $1800; which 
was acquiesced in, and a house authorized to be built, 
that would cost $3,300, which, at a subsequent meeting, 
was altered to $1,200. 

The house was built, the school established, and proved 
successful, insomuch that the profits of the year 1855 
exceeded the expenses by $307.86. This, for so new an 
enterprise, in so new a place, was remarkable, but not so 
remarkable as the fact that on the 6th of April, 1856, the 
directors of this seminary transferred the whole thing — 
house, lots and furniture — to the School Inspectors of 
the City of Peoria, — not for the money they had cost, 
but by the said School Inspectors issuing to each stock- 
holder scrip to the amount that he had paid, payable two 
years thereafter, without interest for the time past, but 
with six percent, interest for the time to come, 
12 



90 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

The female school, in its first organization, was not 
called an academy nor seminary, but the 'Female 
School Association'. At the commencement the associa- 
tion was too poor to buy ground on which to build, and 
leased ground from me on Jefferson street, between Lib- 
erty and Fulton streets, at a nominal rent, on a lease of 
ten years, upon the condition that at the end of the time 
the lessor should, at his option, buy the house to be built, 
or sell the ground, at their appraised value. That lease 
is before me now : it is in Judge Powell's handwriting, 
and dated April 1st, 1850. It purports to have been 
made between myself of the first part, and Jacob Gale, 
Hervey Lightner and Elihu 1ST. Powell, on behalf of the 
association; but for some reason, which I have forgotten, 
Mr. Lightness name is not subscribed to it. This school 
succeeded admirably, and became a source of profit; but 
before the lease had expired, some ill-disposed person 
burnt it down, together with some books and chemical ap- 
paratus that had been procured for the school. The par- 
ties concerned were so encouraged by this experiment 
that they bought a lot, and built a much better house 
(the first having been of wood and the latter of brick) ; 
but the same men who swallowed up the male school 
found room in their capacious maws for this also. l>y 
what appeal's on their records as a fair vote, but which 
had none of the elements of fairness about it, it was, in 
like manner, for a like consideration, turned over to the 
same parties, and they are both in their hands to this 
day. This created much dissatisfaction, for it was done 
without the knowledge of the most of the stockholders. 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 91 

Some h fused to receive the scrip that was offered to them 
for their stock, and talked of suing, and I suppose it was 
a clear case for the interference of a court of chancery ; 
hut no suits were brought, hut in process of time the mat- 
ter quieted down, and all, or nearly all, finally accepted 
the scrip or the money. 

One great objection made to this change was that it 
was done clandestinely, without sufficient notice to the 
stockholders. It was even done without the author, who 
was one of the four directors elected to conduct said 
school, having any knowledge of it, until it was all over. 
Yet the most substantial difference between the two 
plans was this : In these joint-stock companies, none had 
a voice in managing them but those who had taken 
stock in them, and then the votes were in proportion to 
the number of shares owned by each voter; whereas, as 
soon as the property was turned over to the ' School In- 
spectors ', it was entirely beyond their control. It is 
true that these same men had a right to vote for the 
School Inspectors, but that vote was liable to be entirely 
overshadowed and lost sight of by the great multitude 
who had furnished none of the money, and who paid no 
taxes, and yet had a right to vote for School Inspectors. 
It was virtually taking the money of those who had been 
industrious enough, and provident enough, to lay up any, 
and giving it to those who had been too lazy or careless 
to make any, or who had spent their earnings in dissipa- 
tion, or, peradventure, in enjoyments that were only ob- 
jectionable as being beyond their means. 

On Second street, near Franklin, is now in successful 



92 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



operation an institution called 'The Peoria German 
School Association'. They have a large and well-built 
brick building, and teach the English and German lan- 
guages. They employ two German male teachers, and 
one female English teacher. This school was established 
by a company of German gentlemen, with their own 
funds, and is managed by them, in their own way. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE PRESENT SCHOOL SYSTEM, COMMONLY CALLED FREE 

SCHOOLS. 



Various school-laws were passed by the legislature, 
from time to time; but the first one worthy of note, in 
this connection, is one passed on the sixteenth of Febru- 
ary, 1857, which may be found on page 259 of the stat- 
utes of that year, and on page 144: of the collection of 
Scates et ah This had previously been the law. It was 
enacted and reenacted from 1841 to 1847. It is a long 
statute, with many and ample provisions. By section 42, 
it is provided that the legal voters shall elect "three per- 
sons within the district, to be styled school directors" 
who are to hold office for a year. Section 43 is in these 
words: "For the purpose of erecting school-houses, or 
for the purpose of purchasing school-house sites, or for 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 93 

the purpose of repairing and improving the same, for 
procuring furniture, fuel and district libraries, and for the 
purpose of paying the balance due teachers, after the 
state and township funds are exhausted, the board of 
directors of any district shall be authorized to have lev- 
ied and collected a tax annually, on all the property in 
their district." 

This law gave them power, without limit, to levy tax 
to any amount they might please, subject, however, to a 
vote of the people, which people were the same to whom 
they owed their election, a large majority of whom paid 
little or no taxes. Under this law large amounts of 
money were collected, and several school-houses partly 
built, and one would have thought that even ' democracy 
run mad ' would have been satisfied with it ; but such 
was not the fact. 

The besetting sin of American society is a mania for 
office. Men will abandon a business worth two thousand 
dollars a year for an office worth one thousand, and they 
are ready to ruin the public interests, for the honor of 
ruling the public. They array the poor against the rich, 
and assume the honor of leading the former, because they 
are most numerous. This class of men are constantly 
endeavoring to get into some small office, as a stepping- 
stone to a higher one; and they educate those who have 
nothing to believe that the way to get the property of 
the rich is to break them down by taxation; and, to get 
the votes of such, they promise to assess a new tax, or 
increase the old ones. 

This baleful disposition caused a law to be passed, on 



94 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

the 14th of February", 1845, which provided for the elec- 
tion of seven inspectors of schools, to he denominated 
' The Board of School Inspectors'. The name of this 
corporation seems incongruous. School trustees, school 
directors, school superintendents, or school commission- 
ers, would seem more appropriate; but the fact is, so 
many laws had been passed on the subject that all appro- 
priate terms had been exhausted, leaving the getters-up 
of our present school-law no alternative but to call them- 
selves 'inspectors'. 

This act gives this board omnipotent power, on the 
subject of renting or building school-houses, hiring teach- 
ers and determining their salaries, and levying taxes for 
these purposes, except that the eighth section requires 
that, after the amount of taxes has been determined by 
them, the question of levying shall be submitted to the 
people, at the next election, and if a majority vote for it, 
it becomes peremptory on the board of aldermen to levy 
and collect the tax, and hand it over to the treasurer ap- 
pointed by the board. This clause, however, in practice, 
has amounted to nothing, For the majority, getting the 
benefit of the tax without paying any of it, would vote 
for a million dollars, were that the sum proposed, in stead 
of and in preference to any smaller sum. 

On the 27th of January, 1857, this law was so amend- 
ed as to require nine in stead of seven inspectors to form 
the board, and it provided "That the persons so elected, 
and their successors in office, are hereby constituted a 
body corporate and politic, by the name and style of the 
'Hoard of School Tnspeetors of the City of Peoria '; that 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 95 

they shall have perpetual succession, and by said name 
shall have power to sue and he sued, plead and be im- 
pleaded, in all courts and places where judicial pro- 
ceedings are had."" 

This law also provided for the issuing of $50,000 of 
city bonds, to be put into the hands of the school inspect- 
ors, to aid in building school-houses. 

On the 20th of February, I860, an act was passed en- 
titled " An act to reduce the Charter of Peoria, and the 
several acts amendatory thereof, into one act, and revise 
the same." Said two school-laws, with but little varia- 
tion, are incorporated into said charter, and, as thus re- 
enacted, are now the law on the subject. 

The second section of this law provides that " The 
said board of school inspectors shall consist of the mayor 
of the City of Peoria, and two members from each ward 
(the election districts in the township of Peoria to be 
deemed, for school purposes, portions of the wards at 
which the voting for said districts is now or may hereaf- 
ter be done), who shall be residents of their respective 
wards, and who shall hold their offices, respectively, for 
two years, or until the election and cpialification of their 
successors." From this I understand that, as we have 
seven wards in our city, and the board of aldermen may 
make as many as they please, the number of school in- 
spectors is increased to fifteen, and may be much larger, 
should the number of wards be increased. 

The most noticeable point wherein the law, as thus in- 
corporated into the city charter, differs from the law of 
1855, is this: By the law of 1855, the board of alder- 



96 IIISTORY OF PEORIA. 



men were only bound to levy the tax after it had been 
voted by the people; whereas, by the charter, the board 
of inspectors is supreme. It is only necessary for them 
to demand the money, and the board of aldermen (their 
humble servants) are compellable to levy the, tax. collect 
it, and hand it over. 

By this last charter, besides giving all the school-funds 
to the school inspectors, to the exclusion of all other 
schools, and an unlimited power of taxing the people in 
any sum not exceeding six mills in the dollar's worth, 
which is withheld from all other schools, the city council 
is authorized to issue and put into their hands any 
amount of city bonds, not exceeding in the whole 
125,000. 

Effectually to break down all independent schools, tin' 
following section is contained in both of said laws: 
" No school in said city, or the teacher or pupils thereof, 
shall receive any part of any school-fund belonging to 
the state, or any money raised by taxation, that is not a 
public school, as provided by this act, and established 
and maintained under the authority and direction of the 
board of inspectors." But, as above stated, this effect 
was not entirely produced. 

To understand the importance of the above clause, it 
should be stated that taxation, the greatest source of 
school-funds now, was not formerly resorted to at all. 
We then had, and still have, other sources of revenue, 
obtained in this wise: When it was proposed to give 
the Illinois Territory the position of a state, the general 
government required several concessions of the future 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 97 

state, and, as an inducement to those concessions, Con- 
gress proposed to concede — 

" That five per cent, of the net proceeds of the lands 
lying within such state, and which should be sold by- 
Congress from and after the first day of January. 1819, 
after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall 
be reserved for the purposes following, viz : two fifths to 
be disbursed, under the direction of Congress, in making 
roads leading to the state, the residue to be appropri- 
ated, by the legislature of the state, for the encourage- 
ment of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclu- 
sively for a college or university." 

" That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, shall 
be designated by the President of the United States, to- 
gether with the one heretofore reserved, for the use of a 
seminary of learning, and vested in the legislature of the 
said state, to be appropriated solely to the use of such 
seminary, by the said legislature." 

The schedule containing the above propositions was 
passed in Congress on the 18th day of April, 1818, and 
accepted by the State of Illinois on the 25th of Au- 
gust, 1818. A lar2;e amount of funds went into the state 
treasury, by virtue of this compact, which were squan- 
dered. Afterward, when the national treasury was over- 
flowing, and a reduction of the tariff was opposed to the 
policy of the majority, the surplus revenue was divided 
among the several states, and Illinois, after fooling away 
her part, voted to add it to the school-fund, and pay in- 
terest on the whole for the benefit of schools. To all of 
13 



98 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

which should be added the proceeds of the sixteenth sec- 
tion. 

On the 10th of February, 1857, the legislature, that 
had always been too poor or unpatriotic to restore the 
college and seminary funds, passed a law levying a tax 
of two mills on all taxable property, for the use of 
schools. 

From these sources of revenue are produced the 
school-fund, the interest on which is annually divided 
among the counties, in proportion to the children that 
might be educated, and then, in the counties, it is divided 
among all the schools, according to the actual number of 
scholars sent to school, and the actual time they are kept 
at it. It was in these funds that said laws prohibited the 
schools in Peoria from participating, unless they would 
submit themselves to the said school inspectors. 

Under these laws schools have been established in the 
City of Peoria very extensively. Xo less than nine 
school-houses have been built, and all but three of them 
are very expensive brick buildings. Three of them are 
wooden buildings, and one of the three is exclusively for 
colored children. In these the Superintendent computes 
that he is educating 2,600 pupils. To teach these stu- 
dents, fifty-five tutors are emjuoyed — six males and forty- 
nine females — at salaries, to the males, of 81,200, except 
the principal, who gets 81,000, and to the females, from 
x-\7o to $900. 

What effect the Catholic movement, detailed in Chap- 
ter XIX, will have on these schools is yet to be proved ; 
the Catholics are so numerous that, should they withdraw 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 99 

all their children, it must thin out the schools consid- 
erably. 

Appended to these is an institution called the Normal 
School, which is in its infancy. This school is supported 
by the County of Peoria and the City of Peoria — the 
county paying three-fourths of the expenses. There 
are, as yet, but two teachers — Mr. White, at a salary of 
$2,500; and Miss Hannay, at a salary of $750 — and forty 
scholars. 

These are very showy schools, and many of our citi- 
zens are proud of them ; but this feeling is far from be- 
ing universal. A considerable number (although these 
schools are free to them) prefer to send their children 
away, to where board and tuition are very costly. 

The Board of School Inspectors at present (1870) con- 
sists of 

William F. Bey an, Esq., 

Chauncey Nye, Esq., 

Charles Feinse, Esq., 

]\[r. Alexander G. Tyng, 

Mr. Charles Raymond, 

Mr. B. L. T. Bourland, 

Hon. Gardiner T. Barker, 

Mr. A. F. Lincoln, 

Mr. Benjamin Foster, 

Mr. George H. McIlvaine, 

Mr. Eldrick Smith, jr., 

Mr. Eugene B. Pierce, 

Mr. John Wiciimanx, 

E. S. Willcox, Esq., 

Air. K C. Nason. 
Mr. J. E. Dow is Superintendent. 
Mr. John Hamlin is Treasurer. 



100 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER XXL 

CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 

From Mr. Beggs'e Early History of the West and 
Northwest, page 131, I learn that "in the year 1825, 
Jesse Walker formed a class of sixteen members," com- 
posed of the following persons, to wit, " Jesse Walker 
and wife; James Walker and wife; Sister Dixon, the 
wife of the proprietor of Dixon town, on Rock River; 
Sister Hamlin and another sister, converts that winter; 
William Holland and wife; William Eads and wife; 
William Blanchard; Rev. Reeves McCormick, and Mary 
Clark." He also speaks of a camp-meeting had about a 
mile above Peoria, the next summer; and a year or two 
afterward of a camp-meeting on Farm Creek, three 
miles cast of Peoria; and he gives the names of several 
Methodist preachers who officiated here, in those days. 
l>e all this as it may, when I came to the country, in No- 
vember, 1831, these people were mostly gone, and the 
whole tiling seemed to have been forgotten. I never 
heard it mentioned. There was then no religious society 
of any kind, nor a preacher of any kind, in the Comity of 
Peoria. 

Yet we occasionally had fervent preaching, by those 
who felt it their duty to travel to the remotest ends of 
the earth in search of the ' lost sheep of the House of Is- 



IIISTOEY OF PEORIA. 101 



rael '; and peraclventure, some times, by those who took 
that mode of paying their traveling bills. I remember 
to have heard preach, before any church was organized 
here, Rev. Mr. Heath, then of St. Louis; Rev. John St. 
Clair, from Ottawa or thereabouts ; Rev. Joel Arrington, 
from I know not where; Rev. Zadoc Hall, who, I be- 
lieve, is yet alive and m Woodford county; Rev. John 
Brich (an elderly English gentleman, who would have 
been, like Goldsmith's country clergyman, "passing rich 
with forty pound a year " ; and with that Would " ne'er 
have changed, nor wished to change, his place"; but the 
trouble was, he did not get the forty pound a year, and, 
of necessity, had constantly to change his place. In 
short, he was a good old man, who had mistaken his call- 
ing; and, though every body else saw it at once, he never 
ascertained that fact, and, having no place at which per- 
manently to preach, he traveled abroad, preaching in the 
most out-of-the-way places. It was said at the time, but 
I know not whether it was true, that a drove of wolves 
caught him, in the great prairie extending through Hen- 
ry and Mercer counties, and eat him up) ; Rev. Jonathan 
G. Porter, who made shoes of week-days, and preached 
on the Sabbath (but what became of him I know not. 
He was a ' Henglishman', who sounded an h before eve- 
ry vowel where there was none, but omitted every one he 
met with) ; Rev. Flavel Bascorn, Rev. Romulus Barnes, 
and Rev. Ozias Hale. Mr. Hale did not preach long. It 
soon became manifest that he had likewise mistaken his 
calling, and he withdrew from the ministry. After living 
a few years in great retirement near Hale's Mill, he died, 



102 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

a good, but not a useful man. He was brother to two 
very clever men, who were long well known here, but 
who are now both dead, viz., William and Asahel Hale. 

The first Christian church organized in Peoria, of 
which I had any knowledge, until I saw Mr. Bcggs's 
book a few days ago, was a Methodist-Episcopal church. 
It was organized in 1833, by Rev. Mr. Heath and Rev. 
Mr. St. Clair. It was organized with the following mem- 
bers : Jonathan G. Porter, Samuel B. King and his wife, 
Mark M. Aiken, Laura Hale, Hannah Ilarker, and Abi- 
gail Waters. The meetings were held in the ' old 
court-house', and in private dwellings, until 1840, when 
a frame building was erected, on the present church-lot, 
corner of Fulton and Madison streets. In 1844 fifteen 
feet were added to the rear of this building, making it 
in all a house 43 feet long by 40 wide. In this house the 
society worshiped until the spring of 1840, when it was 
sold to James McFadden, who removed it to the corner of 
Water and Harrison streets, where it still stands, and 
constitutes a part of the Central Hotel. In the mean 
time, the society had been building a large brick edifice, 
90 feet long by 60 feet wide, on the same lot. This they 
began in the summer of 1847, and got completed in 
about two years. It was dedicated on the 0th of Sep- 
tember, 1849. 

Although other branches of the Methodist Church 
have sprung up in the city, this one has continued to in- 
crease, and has at present about 220 members. Rev. J. 
P. Brooks is the present minister, and Rev. L. B. Kent 
is the presiding elder. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 103 

There is a very pretty little frame edifice, on Chestnut 
street, between Adams and Jefferson streets, of which 
the members are mostly, if not all, Germans, and yet 
are Methodists, in connection and good standing with 
the great Methodist-Episcopal Church of America. This 
society has only been in existence about two years. Rev. 
Henry Thomas is their minister. 

There is a Methodist society whose place of worship 
for several years was at the intersection of Perry and 
Eaton streets; but they have recently removed their 
meeting-house from that place to the intersection of Jef- 
ferson and Evans streets. They are in fellowship with 
the great Methodist-Episcopal Church. Rev. Henry Ap- 
ple is their pastor. 

On the bluff, at the head of Main street, is a fine new 
church, built by funds devised by Mr. Ashael Hale, 
called Hale Chapel. The worshipers here I understand 
to be about 150, and to be in connection with the Metho- 
dist-Episcopal Church. Rev. TV. A. Spencer is their 
minister. 

In 1852 the Germans organized a Methodist church, in 
which the worship is carried on in the German language. 
Whether they are in connection with the general Metho- 
dists or not I have not learned. 

At the corner of Fifth and Monson streets is a small 
chapel for the colored people who belong to the African 
Methodist-Episcopal Church. 

Since the Presbyterians have again united as a band 
of brothers, the following anecdote may amuse the pres- 
ent generation without hurting any one. In 1834, the 



104 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

strife that ultimately split the church in twain was brew- 
ing; and although the common people did not then, and 
do not now, know what they quarreled and divided 
about, those who made the split did know what they 
were after, and, some time before the split actually took 
place, were shaping things so as to have the majority in 
the General Assembly when the crisis should be upon 
them. There were hardly then Presbyterians enough in 
Peoria for one society, much less to form two; and one 
society being organized, it was known that the synod 
would not recognize a second. Joshua Aiken, Moses 
Pettengill and Enoch Cross were Presbyterians of New- 
School predilections, and they made arrangements to or- 
ganize a church with such materials as would cast their 
influence in favor of the Xew-School party, and they ap- 
pointed the 21st day of December, 1834, for that pur- 
pose; and as Ilomulus Barnes and Flavel Baseom were 
missionary preachers agreeing with them in this matter, 
and were officiating as such in Illinois, they were sent 
for to perform that duty. They organized a church of 
eleven members, of which the three above-named gen- 
tlemen were appointed ciders. These were all New- 
England men. 

But, while these things were transpiring, there was a 
counter-current at work. Samuel Lowry was a zealous 
Old-School Presbyterian, from the north of Ireland, and 
deemed it very important to prevent the other party from 
getting the start, lie found the old gentleman, Mr. 
Brich, of whom notice has been taken, and on the 22d 
of the same month organized a church of persons of Old- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 105 

School proclivities, to wit: Samuel Lowry, Mrs. Gray, 
Mrs. Taggart, John Sutherland, Nelson Buck, and per- 
haps two or three others. 

Here was a fine prospect for an interminable ecclesias- 
tical litigation, between brothers Aiken and Lowry, each 
one endeavoring to prevent the other's church from being 
recognized by the synod; and those who were ac- 
quainted with the persistence of the parties expected 
nothing less, for both of them belonged to that class of 
stern, old-fashioned Christians, 

" Who never knelt, but to their God to pray, 
Nor even then, unless in their own way." 

But soon after this the great split in the Presbyterian 
Church took place, and the Old-School branch recog- 
nized Mr. Lowry's church, and the New-School the 
other, which was commonly called Mr. PettenghTs, as 
Mr. Aiken was much from home and finally died, and 
Dr. Cross moved away. 

In the summer of 1835, Rev. Isaac Keller, an Old- 
School Presbyterian preacher of some ability, removed 
from Maryland, with his family, to Peoria; and in the 
fall of the same year, Mr. Henry Schnebly, with a large 
family, came from the same state. In the mean time 
Mrs. Lindsay, with a large family, mostly Presbyterians, 
had come from Pennsylvania, and Clark D. Powell from 
Virginia. These additions, being Old-School men, ena- 
bled the Old-School party to present a bold front; and, 
but for internal divisions, they might have made a strong 
party. The world never knew — perhaps I never knew 
— the real cause of the schism. I suppose, however, the 
14 



106 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

real cause was a strong disposition in Mr. Lowry to rule 
whatever he was concerned with, and an equally strong 
disposition on the part of Mr. Keller not to be ruled. 
The ostensible cause, however, was a discovery that 
Lowry, who was insolvent, had taken the deed to the 
church-lot in his own name. Be all that as it may, Mr. 
Keller, who had preached for the society, withdrew and 
preached in the court-house until his party became strong 
enough to build a church, which they did on Fulton 
street, the same now occupied by the Jews as a syna- 
gogue. They abandoned the old organization, and on 
the 31st of October, 1840, organized themselves as an 
Old-School Presbyterian church, and elected as elders Mr. 
Henry Schnebly, Clark D. Powell, and Joseph Batchelder. 
For this organization Rev. Isaac Keller preached several 
years; but having settled permanently in the country, 
and being somewhat advanced in life, he was succeeded 
by Rev. Addison Coffey, a lean, tall man, of feeble 
health, whose morals and orthodoxy were never ques- 
tioned. He died in the ministry at Peoria. During his 
ministration the church on Fulton street was sold to the 
Universalists, who afterward sold it to the Jews, by whom 
it is now occupied, and during that time the present 
church, on the corner of Main and Madison streets, was 
built. The bell and steeple have since been added. 

After the death of Mr. Coffey, viz., in October, 1855, 
11-jy. Robert Johnston was installed as pastor to this 
congregation. He preached for it until his death, which 
happened on the 19th of August, 1864. If I say this 
man did not mistake his calling — that he was ' the right 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 107 

man in the right place', — I know no man who I think 
would be inclined to contradict me. 

After Mr. Johnston's death. Rev. J. H. Morron was in- 
stalled as parson of that church, and he occupies that 
position now. 

When this church was organized, it was composed of 
24 communicants; in 1851, of 120; but now it has a 
much larger number. 

On the 7th of December, 1853, the Old-School Presby- 
terian church was amicably divided, and out of a part of 
its members a church was organized, called the Second 
Presbyterian Church of Peoria. They built a church at 
the corner of Madison and Jackson streets, and obtained 
for their preacher Rev. R. P. Farris. The old church, 
from that time forward, was called the First Presbyterian 
Church of Peoria. Rev. Robert P. Farris preached for 
the second church, for a time, and was succeeded by 
Rev. Samuel Hibben. After his death Rev. William E. 
McLaren preached for it several years. After he left, 
Rev. H. V. D. Nevius was installed, and preaches for 
them yet. That church has now about 185 communi- 
cants. 

The Presbyterian church organized by Mr. Brich died 
a natural death. The most of the members followed Mr. 
Keller. Messrs. Lowry, Powell and Sutherland moved 
away, and all died. The church and church-lot went to 
pay Mr. Lowry's debts, or for some other purpose, and 
were not accounted for. In facts there had ceased to be 
any one to account to for them. 

I stop the press to say that, since this work was hand- 



108 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

ed over to the printer, I have just received from Rev. 
John G. Bergen, who was once a leader in the Presbyte- 
rian Church, a letter dated February 2d, 1870, from 
which I copy the following : " There was a commission 
of the Synod of Illinois, vested with synodical powers 
to call before them persons and papers, of which I was 
chairman ; and we met at Peoria (if I remember cor- 
rectly) in 1842; and we investigated and adjudged on 
the whole matter of the difficulty : dissolved the church 
which Mr. S. Lowry claimed to have organized, and for 
which he said Rev. Mr. Brich prayed, and proceeded to 
organize, with the power of synod committed to us, a 
Presbyterian church, in due form, over which Mr. Keller 
became stated supply." 

This proceeding, I suppose, was gotten tip by Mr. Kel- 
ler's party, to clear the record of the then defunct church 
which had been organized by Messrs. Lowry and Brich, 
so that the organization of a church for Mr. Keller might 
not seem unpresbyterial. 

On Walnut street, near the corner of Walnut and Wa- 
ter streets, is a church called Calvary Mission, which 
was gotten up mostly by the exertions of Mr. William 
Reynolds. It was commenced as a Sunday school, but 
by degrees was developed into a church. Christianity 
in general has been taught there, more than any particu- 
lar sectarian doctrine; yet the society is substantially a 
Presbyterian society. It lias been nurtured mostly by 
Presbyterians, and William Reynolds, the principal 
founder, and sole elder at its organization, is a Presbyte- 
rian, and Rev. John Weston, the pastor, is a Presbyteri- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 109 

an. This society was organized into a church on the 
28th day of June, 1867, and already contains many mem- 
bers. Since the organization, Dr. J. Carey has been add- 
ed to the eldership. 

Another Sunday school of this kind, mostly under the 
auspices of Mr. George H. Mcllvaine, has lately devel- 
oped into a church, and Rev. George Johnson has been 
employed to officiate as its parson. Their place of wor- 
ship is in a small meeting-house at the corner of Green 
and Clay streets. Their numbers I have not learned. 
The society has heretofore been called Grace Mission, 
but it will now probably take the name of the Fourth Pres* 
byterian Church. Several of the principal religious so- 
cieties have established, in the suburbs, Sunday schools 
of this kind, which may or may not develop into 
churches. 

The Presbyterian society organized by Messrs. Barnes 
and Bascom increased in numbers, and in 1835 built them- 
selves a small frame meeting-house on Main street, 28 by 
50 feet square. When this church was organized, it con- 
sisted of but eleven members. In October, 1847, it had 
increased to twenty-two members. 

In 1852 this society built themselves a brick church, 
on the ground of the frame one, at a cost of $8,000. 
This entailed upon them a debt which lay like an incubus 
upon them for seven years. Finally, " on Thanksgiving 
morning, November 25th, 1859, Deacon Pettengill, who 
held the obligations, presented the whole amount, 
$4,074.07, as a freewill offering to the church." How- 
ever, before this glorious jubilee had arrived, to wit, in 



110 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

October, 1855, twenty-two members withdrew from this 
church, and resolved themselves into a New- School Pres- 
byterian church, as is seen below. This church has met 
many difficulties, but upon the whole its march has been 
onward. It now numbers 172 communicants. 

At a time when abolitionism was very unpopular, this 
was called an abolition society, and a very decided abo- 
litionist, Rev. William Allen, preached for them. A 
publication went abroad that on the 13th of February, 
1843, a meeting would be held in said church to organize 
an abolition society. A counter meeting was called at 
the court-house to counteract that movement. Strong 
resolutions were passed against the abolitionists, and a 
determination expressed to suppress the meeting, ' peace- 
ably if they could, but forcibly if they must'. A com- 
mittee of respectable citizens was appointed to appear 
in the abolition meeting, and read a parcel of resolutions 
to them. Although these were respectable men, they 
had on their side all the rabble of the city; and when all 
these, with their rough looks, made their appearance, the 
abolitionists thought it was no place for them, and left. 
With some difficulty, the better class prevented the rab- 
ble from pulling down the house. They did not prevent 
them, however, from running the preacher's buggy into 
the lake. The Rev. J. A. Mack is their pastor. 

Those who withdrew from Mr. PettengilPs church, and 
resolved themselves into a New-School Presbyterian 
church, built a brick house of worship on the corner of 
Fulton and Monroe streets, and have kept up their organ- 
ization ever since: first as a New-School church, and 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. Ill 

since the union of the two branches as the Fulton-Street 
Church. Rev. Mr. Hovey is their pastor. 

On the third of March, 1855, a Cumberland-Presbyte- 
rian church was organized, and they built themselves a 
small house of worship, on Monson street, between 
Fourth and Fifth streets, and obtained for their preacher 
Rev. S. T. Stewart. He has long since left, and I be- 
lieve they have now no preacher. Their number is small. 
I believe they have disbanded, and sold their meeting- 
house to the Episcopalians, for whom Rev. John Benson 
preaches. 

Through the zeal of a Mr. S. Glover (whose piety 
proved to be not at all equal to his zeal and talents), a 
very respectable edifice was built, at the corner of Madi- 
son and Liberty streets, and a respectable society of wor- 
shipers collected there, who called themselves United 
Presbyterians. As I understand it, they were seceders. 
They were Presbyterians in every thing, except that they 
would not sing TVatts's hymns, which the Presbyterians 
do. They flourished for some time, but their favorite 
preacher ' fell from grace ', and ' quit his country for his 
country's good '. They were generally respectable peo- 
ple, and were not responsible for their preacher's conduct; 
yet they seemed unable to survive the blow. They kept 
up their organization for some time, but finally sold their 
place of worship, and I do not know that they have now 
any preaching. Their meeting-house has gone into the 
hands of the ' Turners '. 

On the 27th day of October, 1834, a Mr. Palmer Dyer 
organized an Episcopal church in Peoria, which he named 



112 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






St. Jade's Church. Augustus O. Garrett was, at that 
time, keeping a tavern at the corner of Main and Wash- 
ington streets. Mr. Dyer put up there as a traveler or 
boarder, and, as there was no house of worship in town, 
preached in Mr. Garrett's ball-room. He proposed to or- 
ganize a society for religious worship. There were few, 
if any, Episcopalians present, but no body objected to 
preaching, and all were more or less ardently in favor of 
it. So he organized an Episcopal church, without any 
reference to the kind of religious training his audience 
had had, or the religious opinions they entertained. I 
have not a list of the members of his church, if he made 
any, but his officers were as follows : Palmer Dyer, Rec- 
tor ; Edward Dickinson and Samuel C. Baldwin, Wardens ; 
Augustus O. Garrett, Joseph C. Frye, William Mitchell, 
Rudolphus Rouse, George Kellogg, P. A. Westervelt, 
William Frisby, and Andrew M. Hunt, Vestrymen ; Wil- 
liam Frisby, Clerk. By those who knew the above gen- 
tlemen this would not be considered a very ' high 
church ' ; yet it is said that Bishoj) Chase owed his ele- 
vation to the position of Bishop of Illinois to this same 
Rev. Mr. Dyer and his St. Jude's Church, and that he 
recognized it for several years as a very proper Episcopal 
organization; yet at a subsequent time he ignored it, and 
treated it as never having existed, and organized in its 
stead another, which he called St. Paul's Church. This 
is the society that built the large church at the corner of 
Monroe and Main streets, to which Mr. Cracraft long 
preached, and which now has for its rector Rev. James 
W. Coe. The corner-stone was laid, with considerable 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 113 



ceremony, by Bishop Chase, in 1849, and the church was 
finished and dedicated on the 15th of September, 1850. 
This society is composed of about 03 persons. 

There is a house of worship on Monson street, between 
Fourth and Fifth streets, called St. Paul's chapel, under 
the ministration of Mr. John Benson, who is understood 
to be a 'high-church ' Episcopalian. 

The first Baptist society was organized in Peoria on 
the 14th of August, 1836. Rev. Henry Headley preached 
for them in the Court-House for some time. Rev. Isaac 
D. Newell took charge of this congregation on the 22d 
of October, 1843. Several others have ministered to 
them since, and some times they have been without a 
parson. No one, however, whom they have had left a 
fairer record than Rev. H. G. Weston, who, when I last 
saw him, was preaching to a large congregation in the 
City of New York. They built a church while Mr. 
Newell was their pastor, on Hamilton street, fronting on 
th? public square, which they occupied for many years. 
Finally they sold it to one who turned it into a billiard 
saloon, and in lieu thereof, for the sum of $10,000, they 
bought a church, in July, 1864, which the Unitarians had 
built, at the corner of Madison and Fayette streets. 
Their membership is between 200 and 300, and Mr. S. A. 
Kingsbury, D. D., is their preacher. 

Another Baptist church was organized on the 24th of 
January, 1855, and for several years Rev. John Edmin- 
ster was their pastor. They built a meeting-house on 
Adams street, between Locust and Persimmon streets. 
Rev. W. T. Green is their present pastor. To Rev. 
15 



114 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 

Messrs. Edminster and Weston is mainly due the honor 
of establishing this church. 

On the 24th of August, 1852, the ' First German Bap- 
tist Church' was organized. They first held worship in 
the basement of the First Baptist Church. They now 
worship in a meeting-house on the corner of Jefferson 
and Elm streets, and Rev. J. Merz is their pastor. 

There is a small society who glory in the name of 
Christians, and arc not pleased with having any other 
name applied to them, but people generally call them 
Campbellites. As I understand it, they are Baptists, 
simple and pure, but they are not held in fellowship by 
the others — not because they are not as much in favor of 
baptism as they, but because they denounce all creeds 
and confessions of faith. This society was organized on 
the 1st of November, 1845; but it has not prospered, 
and I do not know whether thev continue their meetings. 
They built a house of worship on Seventh street, between 
Franklin and Monson streets. 

In 1847 the Roman Catholics organized a church 
which they called St. Mary's Church, and they built a 
large house of worship at the corner of Jefferson and 
Eaton streets. They have had various priests, but the 
one who officiates now is Rev. John Mackin. They re- 
port about 2,000 members. In connection with this 
church is a large school-house, nearly ready for the re- 
ception of pupils, which will cost about $12,000, and be 
sufficient to accommodate 500 scholars. 

On the 10th of September, 1861, the Rev. Henry 
Doyle, then in charge of St. Mary's Church, established 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 115 

an appendage to it, which he called St. Patrick's 
Church. This church continued as an appendage to St. 
Mary's Church until March 1st, 1868, when it became an 
independent church, with Rev. Michael Hurley as priest, 
who continues to officiate in that capacity. He claims 
fifteen hundred members. Their place of worship is in 
the small frame church at the corner of High and Cedar 
streets. 

Attached to this church, and subject to the supervision 
of Father Hurley, is a common school of about two hund- 
red pupils. 

At the corner of Spencer and First streets is a tolera- 
bly large Catholic church, in which the Rev. William 
Deiters is priest. They claim 2,000 members. They 
are Germans, and the sermon is preached in the German 
language. Attached to this church is a sdiool kept by 
Sisters of Notre Dame, who teach about 300 scholars in 
the German and English languages. 

There is a select Catholic school, kept by the Sisters 
of St. Joseph, near the intersection of Madison and Ham- 
ilton streets. They have about 160 scholars. Although 
this is a sectarian school, I have been informed by a 
Catholic priest that it is more patronized by Protestants 
than by Catholics. 

The Catholics are opposed to our public schools, be- 
cause the Protestant Bibles are read in them and Protes- 
tant prayers and hymns are used in them, and have taken 
the most of their children from them, and intend to with- 
draw the rest as soon as they have provided sufficient ac- 
commodations. 



116 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



In 1847 there was a society of German Protestants 
organized into a church, who called themselves the 
Evangelical Association. They have a small church at 
the corner of First and State streets. Rev. F. W. Walk- 
er is their pastor. 

The German Protestants have a society called the 
c Evangelical Lutheran Church ', organized December 1st, 
1853. Their house of worship is on First street, between 
Fisher and Goodwin streets. Rev. M. J. Tjaden is their 
pastor. 

A place of worship called the ' German Evangelical 
Lutheran Trinity Church' is located on the corner of 
Jefferson and Maple streets. It was organized June 28th, 
1853, by Rev. F. Boeling. The number of communi- 
cants is 350. The present minister, who has charge of 
the congregation, and who has had charge of it for nine 
years, is Rev. Paulas Heid. With that church three pa- 
rochial schools are connected : one located on North-Mad- 
ison street; another on South- Adams street; and the 
third near the church, on Jefferson street. 

On the 3d day of January, 1S47, was organized a 
New-Jerusalem or Swedenborgian church. They first 
built a temple on Jefferson street, immediately to the 
northeast of Mr. Lightner's residence, and this they oc- 
cupied for a good many years; but now they have 
erected a very good, though not a large, house of wor- 
ship on Hamilton, street, between Jefferson and Madison 
streets. Rev. G. F. Stearns is their pastor. 

A Universalist society was organized here on the Gth 
of May, 1843. At first they had no house of worship, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 117 

but iii process of time they bought the meeting-house 
built by the Presbyterians, on Fulton street, but which is 
now owned by the Jews. After using that for several 
years, they sold it, and were for a while without a place 
of worship ; but they have recently built upon Main 
street, between Perry and Hale streets, a very fine house 
of worship — the most expensive one in the city. Rev. 
R. H. Pullman is their pastor. 

The Unitarians have not flourished in Peoria. In June, 
1840, Rev. Benjamin Huntoon organized a Unitarian so- 
ciety here, and from his zeal considerable results were 
anticipated; but he returned to New England, and his 
church went down. 

In January, 1855, a Unitarian church was organized 
under the auspices of Rev. James R. McFarland. They 
had their meetings, for some time, over Mr. Joseph 
Clegg's clothing-store, at No. 47 Main street; but they 
soon afterward built a very comfortable house of worship 
at the corner of Madison and Fayette streets, and held 
their meetings there for some time; but, for some cause 
I can not explain, the church went down, and their house 
of worship passed into the hands of the Baptists. 

In 1846, Michael Ruppelius, a very good sort of a Ger* 
man, organized a religious society of forty members, 
which he called simply the 'Protestant Church'. This 
society was composed mostly, perhaps altogether, of 
Germans. In 1851, Mr. Drown' s Directory says he had 
150 members. He preached to them several years, in 
the Court-IIouse. Finally he quit that business, and be- 
took himself to the business of a conveyancer, and followed 



118 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

that for some time before his death. What went with 
his little society I never knew. 

In early times there were no Jews here, or, if there 
were, they were not known as such. Bnt in process of 
time, as foreigners came pouring into the country, it was 
found that many of them were Israelites, and they occa- 
sionally had worship to themselves on Saturday : Sunday 
being no holy day with them. On the 2d of May, 18C3, 
they were organized into a regular religious congrega- 
tion, since which time their services have been as regular 
as others. The Rev. Marx Moses is the officiating pastor 
or priest. 

Besides the above religious societies, that may be called 
churches, we have a number of religious organizations 
that would hardly bear that name : for instance — 1st, the 
various mission Sunday schools above referred to, which 
have not been developed into churches; 2d, the 'Peoria 
Bible Society ' ; 3d, the * Young Men's Christian Associ- 
ation'; 4 th, the 'Peoria Branch of IT. S. Christian Asso- 
ciation ' ; 5th, the ' German, Roman Catholic, St. Joseph's 
Benevolent Association ' ; Gth, the ' Hibernian Benevo- 
lent Society '; 7th, the 'Ladies Hebrew Benevolent So- 
ciety'; 8th, the 'Peoria Ladies' Soldiers'-Aid Society'; 
9th, the ' Union Relief Society '. 

Besides these, we have a number of secret societies, 
said to be benevolent institutions, such as the different 
orders and grades of Free-Masons, Odd-Fellows, Sons of 
Malta, Druids, Sons of Temperance, Oriental Order of 
Humility, etc., about all of which I am most profoundly 
ignorant. From their exhibitions, however, on gala-days. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 119 

and at funerals, some of them are manifestly very nu- 
merous. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MANUFACTURES. FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE-SHOPS. 

The foundry and machine business has made many 
men rich, but perhaps nearly as many poor. To prose- 
cute this business successfully requires skill, patience, 
and financial ability. The most of manufacturing proj- 
ects will succeed if the parties have skill and financial 
ability ; but with both these qualities a man will fail at 
the above business unless he have patience. For years 
the expense for patterns will swallow up most of the 
profits, and without patience a man will go down. But 
after years of perseverance, all the ordinary patterns will 
have been made and laid by; then, if a man have skill 
and financial ability, the greenbacks will roll into his lap. 

The first man who undertook this business in Peoria 
was William R. Hopkins. He had learning, but no skill 
in this matter, no patience, nor financial ability. He com- 
menced the business about twenty-seven years ago, in a 
one-story brick building, on the ground where the Cen- 
tral Hotel now stands, at the corner of Harrison and 
Water streets. The house had been built by Messrs. 



120 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



Isaac Underbill and Aquila Wren, for a pork-packing 
house. Mr. Hopkins did considerable business ; but, as I 
understand it, lie made no money, and run out for want 
of means. 

The next who attempted the business in Peoria was 
William Peters. He had skill and patience, and perhaps 
financial ability; but he commenced very poor, and strove 
on to the time of his death, say fifteen years, to get a 
start. All that time, besides supporting his family, it 
took him to procure sufficient buildings, machinery, and 
patterns. Since his death, his establishment has fallen 
into the hands of men who, it is understood, have made 
money by it. It is now believed to be a success. Five 
practical men, under the name and style of Nicol, Burr 
& Co., now own and are operating that establishment; 
and they report to me that they work every day in the 
year, Sundays excepted, upon an average, fifty men. 
That during last year they built seven steam-engines, and 
that they make every day, upon an average, except Sun- 
days, from 3C00 to 4000 pounds of castings. That in 
doing this they use during the year 150 tons of anthra- 
cite coal, GO tons of Blossburg coal, and 360 tons of com- 
mon Illinois coal. In connection with this business, they 
have started the manufacture of corn-planters, and ex- 
pect to run pretty largely into that business this year. 

At a pretty early period, Mr. Luke Wood run a found- 
ry a while, but for some reason, that I have forgotten, if 
I ever knew, it went down. I do not remember the date 
of his operations. 

The foundries that arc now driving the business, with 



HISTORY OP PEORIA. 121 



every prospect of success, are Voris & Co., who call 
their establishment 'Voris Steam-Engine Works'; and 
Nicol, Burr & Co., who call their establishment 'The 
Peoria Foundry and Machine-Shop'. 

H. G. Anderson, for several years, has been doing a 
large business in the old foundry established by the 
Messrs. Moore, which, it is understood, belongs to him 
and Mrs. Evans, late Mrs. Moore ; but, for some reason 
not explained to me, the business is now suspended. 

All the above are machine-shops as well as foundries. 

There are two iron-foundries, however, that have no 
machine-shops attached, to wit, the foundry of Culter & 
Proctor, who make the manufacture of stoves a specialty, 
and the firm of O'Rorke & Co., which is composed of 
several practical moulders. They do a good business, 
mainly in making castings for the manufacturers of agri- 
cultural implements. They labor every day, except Sun- 
day, every one of them, and are not even at the expense 
of a clerk. One of the parties does the clerking, without 
charge, after working-hours are over. 

We have two brass-foundries : one operated by Messrs. 
Kinsey & Mahler, and the other by Messrs. Frazer, 
Thompson & Co. The business of both these establish- 
ments seems to have increased amazingly, since the es- 
tablishment of our water-works and the extension of the 
gas-pipes. 

We have three establishments in which the manufac- 
ture of steam boilers is followed as a business. 

The greatest things, however, we have in the way of 
machine-shops, are the machine-shops of the Toledo, 
16' 



122 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Peoria and Warsaw Railway Company. In the engine 
and machine department of that road, or so much of it as 
lies between the Indiana state line and the Mississippi 
river, are employed 260 men. Of these, about 195 are 
employed in and about the machine-shops in Peoria. 
This force use in a year 21,632 tons of coal. The greater 
part of this is Illinois coal, obtained beside the road, and 
costs, delivered in the cars, only eight cents a bushel, or 
$2.00 per ton. This coal, for most purposes, is as good 
as any, but for some purposes it is not, and they consume 
in a year about 350 tons of Pennsylvania coal, of a kind 
called Blossburg coal. This costs them, delivered here, 
about ten dollars per ton. 

The shops do the mending for the road, and occasion- 
ally manufacture a car or locomotive engine. 

I have not the means of showing the amount of ma- 
chinery made at Peoria; but the following is a correct 
statement of the number of pounds of merchantable cast- 
ings made by the Voris Steam-Engine Works during 
each month of the year 1869. The aggregate shows an 
increase over the previous year's business, which is espe- 
cially gratifying in view of the general dullness of the 
times. It is proper to be understood that this establish- 
ment does not do any agricultural work, consequently the 
winter months are the dullest, and the spring and summer 
months the best of the year. 

January 63,410 

February 45,598 

March 41,2-3* 

Carried forward 150,266 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 123 



Brought forward 150,266 

April 37,654 

May 61,888 

June 84,913 

July 73,723 

August ; 59,102 

September 72,556 

October . . 73,899 

November . . 40,481 

December 35,756 

Total for 1869 690,238 

" " 1868 544,416 

Increase during 1869 145,822 

Rate of increase, 27 per cent. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

MANUFACTURES. BLACKSMITHS AND PLOW-MAKERS. 

It is manifest, from the pieces of iron, etc., found by 
Mr. Birket, as has been described, that there was a 
blacksmith here before the building of the Peoria village, 
burnt by Captain Craig; but I have seen no account any 
where of the French people ever having had a mechanic- 
shop here of any kind. Soon after the American popu- 
lation began to settle here, there was an Indian agency 
established in this place, with a Mr. Graham as Indian 



124 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



agent; and, pursuant to some treaty, William Holland 
was established here as an Indian blacksmith. But when 
I came here, both were gone : Graham to St. Louis, and 
Mr. Holland to Washington, twelve miles east, where he 
has lived ever since, and is now eighty-three years old. 
The only blacksmiths here, when I came, were Alexander 
Caldwell and John W. Caldwell, two young men from 
Ohio, who were brothers and partners. They are both 
yet alive, and follow farming a few miles east of Peoria. 

At an early period (I believe in 1834), Isaac Evans, a 
very good blacksmith, from Pennsylvania, settled in Pe- 
oria, and carried on the business for several years, and 
then removed to Galena, where he and a son-in-law, by 
the name of John Adams, carried on the plow-making 
business for a long time. Whether he is there now or 
not I do not know. 

One of our earliest blacksmiths, who carried on the 
business here, was Philander C. Merwin, from Western 
New York, or Northeastern Pennsylvania. For several 
years, he has abandoned the business, and lives on a farm 
not far below the city. 

The first blacksmiths in a country are also gunsmiths : 
that is, through necessity, they repair guns ; but as soon 
as population has so increased that it can sustain the 
gunsmith as a separate mechanic, he appears. The first 
of this class of smiths who settled in Peoria was Mr. 
George Ford. He came here about 1834, and followed 
the trade for many years; but, having acquired a compe- 
tence, he has retired from business. Other gunsmiths 
have been here from time to time, but the number at 
present is eight. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 125 

When a gunsmith makes his appearance in a place, 
having tools to suit that purpose, he generally absorbs all 
of that business, and other smiths quit it; but in Peoria 
it has not been exactly so. Mr. Whittemore, an old set- 
tler, has always done a general repairing business. He 
has always repaired every thing worn or broken, from a 
piano-forte to a Jew's-harp ; from a crow-bar to a cambric 
needle, or from a clock to a sun-dial; and his nephew, 
Mr. Weatherl, is pursuing the same course. 

But in the line of blacksmiths there are none who de- 
serve higher compliments for so remarkable success than 
Mr. Alexander Allison. He commenced here in early 
times, a poor, but honest and industrious, journeyman 
blacksmith. He is now a gentleman of large means, and 
carries on the wagon and carriage making business. 

Closely connected with blacksmithing is the plow busi- 
ness. In early times, except a few old-fashioned plows, 
made by John Birket, the plows used hereabout were 
manufactured at Pittsburg, and brought on by our mer- 
chants, as an article of trade. They were of a very in- 
ferior quality, with cast-iron mould-boards that ' would 
not scour'. In 1843, William Tobey and John Anderson, 
under the name of Tobey & Anderson, commenced the 
plow business in a very small way. They were both 
very poor, too much so to buy ground or even materials, 
only a very small quantity at a time. Mr. Tobey had 
been a wagon or carriage maker, from New England, and 
Mr. Anderson had been a common blacksmith, from Ken- 
tucky, but recently from Indiana. They rented a very 
inferior log building, on Water street. Mr* Tobey did 



126 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

the wood work, and Anderson the iron work, in the same 
room. It was an experiment; but they soon, by dint of 
experiments, obtained a pattern for a plow that excelled 
all others, and has not since been excelled. They gradu- 
ally increased their business, until the Tobey & Anderson 
plow became celebrated all over the West, as far as Cali- 
fornia. They soon were able to obtain steam machinery 
to do the work, and to own the houses in which they did 
it, and the ground on which those houses stood. In 
short, they became wealthy, and then, as all men are 
liable some time to do, they both died. But the plow 
business did not die with them : there are more plows of 
that pattern now made in Peoria than they ever saw. 
Their old establishment is carried on by Messrs. Buckley, 
Hanny, Estes & Co., who generally work from 25 to 30 
men. During the last year they manufactured 3,000 
plows of all kinds, and about 1,200 cultivators. 

But a much larger shop has been established in Peoria, 
by men who learned the business in the old Tobey & 
Anderson factory, and who, in fact, under a lease from 
the proprietors, carried on the business in that establish- 
ment; and although they have altogether abandoned the 
old, and built a new establishment, they advertise them- 
selves as successors of Tobey & Anderson. They do 
not claim, however, to make exactly the same patterns of 
plows as were made by the latter, but they claim to have 
improved on them. Lorin G. Pratt is really the soul of 
this concern; but, to insure industry and economy in all 
its parts, he has for some time had three practical men id 
partnership of the profits, and recently the strong firm of 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 127 

Plant Brothers, of St. Louis, have taken an interest in 
the business. It is now carried on in the name of Plant 
Brothers, Pratt & Co. They generally take a recess 
during the hot months, but when running they work from 
100 to 110 men. They make about 20,000 plows in a 
year, besides scrapers, harrows, corn-shellers, cultivators, 
etc. The value of the whole of their manufactures for 
the year just past was about $250,000. 

Other shops have made a few plows, but these two are 
doing the main business in this city. 

Tobey & Anderson did not long live to enjoy their 
fortune, but they have shed greater blessings on Peoria 
and the West than the hero of a hundred battles. They 
gave employment for many years to a large number of 
men, and furnished our farmers with better plows than 
they had ever had before. May all the wooden mould- 
board plows, Carey plows, and bull plows, be built into 
a monument to their memory. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



MANUFACTURES. MILLS. 



In 1830, Mr. John Hamlin and Mr. John Sharp built a 
flouring-mill on Kickapoo creek, three miles, or there- 
abouts, west of Peoria; and this was the only flouring- 



128 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

mill that existed in this part of the country for several 
years. Soon after the mill was built, Mr. Sharp died, 
and the property, by some means (I suppose by purchase 
from Sharp's heirs), fell into the hands of Mr. Hamlin, 
who soon after, I think in the fore part of 1834, sold it to 
Joshua Aiken. This was a small mill, propelled by the 
water of the Kickapoo ; but it was said to have been ca- 
pable of making fifty barrels of flour in twenty-four 
hours. Mr. Aiken added a saw-mill to it, and run both 
for some time, but finally permitted the stream to under- 
mine them and carry them away; and now a stranger 
might almost as well seek for the site of Nineveh or 
Babylon as the site of these mills. And this is the more 
remarkable, as there were dwelling-houses there, in which 
the persons lived who owned and run said mills, and all 
the land thereabout was staked oif into streets, alleys, 
lots, etc., and called Peoria Mills, and a considerable 
amount of business was done in trafficking in these lots, 
thirty-four years ago. 

In 1838, William Hale (and perhaps others as silent 
partners) built a flouring-mill further up the creek. This 
was a good mill, and did much business for many years ; 
but during the whisky mania it fell into the hands of men 
who turned it into a whisky-making establishment, but 
too late, for the two-dollar tax going into effect cut oif all 
the profits, and it suffered the fate of a number of whisky- 
mills in this neighborhood. It was insured beyond its 
value, then took fire and was burnt down, and now the 
tall chimney stands there solitary and useless. 

Soon after this several steam flouring-mills were erect- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 129 



ed. Among those who, in former times, patronized the 
city in the way of flouring-mills, I would name Orrin 
Hamlin, John Rankin, James II. McCall, and Isaac 
Moore, all of whom built flouring-mills that, after doing 
much service, were burnt down. I should except that of 
Mr. McCall, for it was burnt down almost as soon as 
finished. 

Those to whom the city is at present mainly indebted 
for this branch of business are George Field, Frank Field, 
J. T. Robinson, H. II. Potter, W. M. Randall, Horace 
Clark, AY. T. Hanna, and Henry I. Chase. 

The steam flouring-mills now in Peoria are the follow- 
ing: 

1st, The Fort Clark Mill, owned by George Field 
and J. T. Robinson, under the name and style of Robin- 
son & Co. This mill runs eight pairs of mill-stones. 

2d, City Mill, which belongs to the same parties, under 
the same style. It runs five pairs of mill-stones. These 
two mills, run by the same company, can make 700 bar- 
rels of flour in a day of twenty-four hours, and they have 
actually, on an average, for the last seven years, done a 
million dollars' worth of business a year. 

3d, Diamond Mill, owned by Frank Field, Mr. Russell 
of Peoria, and Messrs. Potter and Maynard of Massa- 
chusetts. Style of copartnership, Field, Russell & Co. 
This mill has nine sets of mill-stones. 

4th, Globe Mill, belongs to the last above-named pro- 
prietors, under the same name. They run four pairs of 
mill-stones in this mill. 

. 5th, Fayette Mill, belongs to H. H. Potter and W. M. 
17 



130 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 

Randall. They do business under the name of Randall 
& Potter. This mill has five pairs of mill-stones. 

6th, Home Mill : Horace Clark, W. T. Hanna and J. 
C. Kingsbury, proprietors; style of firm, Clark, Hanna & 
Co. This mill has five pairs of mill-stones. 

7th, Chase's Mill : Henry I. Chase, E. D. Chase and 
P. F. Chase, proprietors; style of firm, Henry I. Chase 
& Co. They have four pairs of mill-stones. 

All these mills use French Burr mill-stones. 

When the manufacture of flour was first tried in Pe- 
oria, those who undertook it were not only poor, but they 
managed badly, and their want of success discouraged 
others, and for a long time it seemed almost impossible 
to get flour enough made in Peoria for our own use ; but 
since a few enterprising men have been successful in a 
high decree, the manufacture of flour here has become 
one of our most important interests. 

The failure of persons engaged in the flouring busi- 
ness, in early times, was not owing to any thing inherent 
in the business, but to want of capital and to bad man- 
agement. The failure of no manufacturer of flour injured 
the prospects of Peoria, in that line, more than that of 
John Rankin. He was a practical man, but he was ex- 
tremely imprudent, and not only got himself involved in 
law about his machinery, but he bought up some French 
claims and delved into law about them, and, after spend- 
ing a large amount of money, got badly beaten. Had 
John Rankin paid for his machinery before putting it 
into his mill, or, being unable to do that, had he obtained 
time, even upon a high rate of interest, and let specula- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 131 

tion alone, lie would have made a fortune. For some 
time afterward he injured Peoria by deterring others from 
engaging in the business, yet temporarily he was of great 
benefit to our city. We had in those days no banks nor 
capitalists, and the transmission of funds to the East, 
either by the merchants or by lawyers who had collected 
off them, was extremely difficult. Money would some 
times lie idle for a considerable length of time, waiting 
for the means of transmission. When Rankin's mill was 
finished, it was not paid for, and he was without a dollar 
to buy wheat, and yet the farmers had plenty of wheat, 
and were anxious to sell. Captain John Moore had 
opened a general store of groceries and dry goods in the 
city. He had not much money nor credit, but found a 
man in St. Louis who was understood to be in the same 
situation, but who, however, had a father-in-law, in New 
York, that had both money and credit. Moore made an 
arrangement with the St. Louis man to foot all the bills 
for wheat, by getting his father-in-law to provide for his 
bills in New York, and, as security and compensation, 
the flour was to be shipped to St. Louis, and to be charged 
with a commission. With the merchants and lawyers in 
Peoria Moore made an arrangement that, as fast as they 
should receive money they wished to transmit east, they 
should pay it over to him, and he would procure them a 
credit in New York. As soon as this arrangement had 
obtained the confidence of the people, it worked like a 
charm. The wheat-market became lively, money moved 
briskly, and the community felt relieved from a great 
pecuniary pressure. A thousand dollars, which may 



132 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



have lain in the vaults of a lawyer or merchant a month, 
waiting for the means of transportation, was, under this 
arrangement, paid in to Moore, and by him paid to the 
farmers, and by them paid to the merchant, and so on 
every day for a month; and in fact, the $1,000, in stead 
of lying idle, may have paid |100,000 of debts; and who 
was injured by this routine of credit? The farmer got a 
sale for his wheat, and got his debt to his merchant paid, 
and got some goods and groceries. Mr. Rankin did 
well, for he obtained the profits incident to grinding and 
shipping the flour. Mr. Moore did well, for he, in paying 
the men, was generally able to pay a part in goods which 
they wanted. The Peoria merchants did well, for they 
got debts paid which otherwise could not then have been 
paid, and stopped the interest on their eastern debts 
sooner than it otherwise could have been done. The St. 
Louis man did well, for he got commissions on all the 
sales that were made. The New York man did well, for 
he got commissions on his advances; and the eastern 
creditors did well, for they got their money sooner than 
they otherwise could have done. 

Our millers now have a more convenient Avay of work- 
ing this matter. We have plenty of banks, and a railway 
communication directly with the eastern cities. They 
can, in twenty-four hours after buying the wheat, have it 
on its way to the eastern cities, in the form of flour, and, 
if necessary, draw on the faith of the bill of lading, and 
immediately put themselves in funds to buy more wheat. 
AVhen our people were poorer, in banking and railroad 
facilities, than at present, we had to ship every thing by 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 138 

way of St. Louis or Chicago ; but our flour and whisky 
men are now independent of both. They transport flour 
and whisky daily by rail, without breaking bulk, from 
Peoria to the eastern cities, and their agents there make 
sales, and place the money in bank to meet their drafts. 

Saw-milling has been abandoned, there not being a 
saw-mill now in the city. 

The first steam saw-mill in Peoria was built by Mr. 
Wm. W. Williams, or by a man by the name of Baldwin, 
who immediately sold it to Mr. Williams. At any rate, 
Mr. Williams operated it a year or two, but did no good 
with it, and it passed into the hands of Samuel Ward, an 
English millwright, who turned it into a wind-mill; but 
he, likewise, did no good with it, and the thing went 
down. I do not remember whether it was burnt down, 
or pulled down, or turned into a warehouse, as has been 
stated. Williams failed because, though a sober man, he 
was not calculated to succeed at any thing; and Ward 
failed because he was, all the time he carried on the busi^ 
ness, killing himself with whisky, in which latter business 
he succeeded. There were, however, two steam saw- 
mills in Peoria once that did much business. The first 
was built by Mr. James C. Armstrong, whose death took 
place a few days ago, and was at one time in the hands 
of Henry S. Aiken and the Bartons; but it afterward fell 
into the hands of Moss & Bradley, who put a Scotchman 
named James Smith in charge of it. Smith proved to be 
the right man in the right place. In a short time it was 
said that he had made enough of money with it to pay 
for it, and make himself a third owner. Smith worked 



134 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

himself, and saw that every body about him worked. He 
made it a large source of profit; and, but for the interpo- 
sition of death, the leveler of all things, he no doubt 
would have become very wealthy. He proved — what the 
bad management of others had caused to be doubted — 
that sawing lumber in Peoria was a very profitable busi- 
ness. This mill was on the bank of the river, in the lower 
part of the city. 

Christopher Orr and G. W. Schnebly built, and for 
several years operated, a steam saw-mill on the bank of 
the river, at the upper end of the city. They did much 
business, but I suspect they sold a good deal of lumber 
to men who never paid them ; but j)robably the ' gold 
fever' was the principal cause of breaking up the business. 
When it was the fashion to sell out and go T\ r est, Mr. 
Schnebly did so; but, though he soon returned, the old 
business was not resumed. 

These two mills were of great advantage to the city, 
even when they were not profitable to those who operated 
them, and I, who have had an opportunity to know some- 
thing about this, give it as my opinion that nothing but 
the bad management of the parties prevented this busi- 
ness from being profitable at all times, and now more so 
than at any former time ; for, although the facility of ob- 
taining lumber by the canal and railroads is now greater 
than ever before, yet the price of lumber is higher now 
than before these facilities existed. It is objected that 
lumber made of our timber is not so good as pine. For 
some purposes it is not, and for some it is ; but for other 
purposes it is better. 



HISTORY OP PEORIA. 135 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MANUFACTURES. DISTILLERIES. 

No business that has been undertaken in Peoria has 
proved to be more profitable than making whisky. In 
early times, corn was so low in proportion to the price of 
whisky that any one, without much skill, could have 
made a fortune at the business; but there were three 
reasons that prevented that business from being under- 
taken. 1st, A great deal of pains had been taken, by 
public lectures and the establishment of temperance soci- 
eties, to render it unpopular, and to some extent these 
efforts had succeeded. 2d, There is a general disinclina- 
tion on the part of men to branch out into a new and un- 
tried business. 3d, We were generally scarce of money, 
and destitute of banking facilities. 

However, in 1844, Almiran S. Cole, a man of small 
means but considerable enterprise, started a small steam 
distillery, capable of using up only 200 bushels of corn in 
a day. This step was not looked upon with favor, even 
by those who had no objection to the business in a moral 
point of view. His downfall was looked upon as certain. 
The day of his bankruptcy was considered but a matter 
of time. He was considerably in debt when he com- 
menced, and that step of folly, as his creditors deemed it 
to be, at'once ruined his credit, and his creditors hurried 



136 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

to get judgments against him before he would break. 
And when he got the establishment completed, for want 
of money or credit, he found great difficulty in running 
it ; and he must have failed, had it not been a remarkably 
dull time. Many people were out of work, the farmers 
had no other market for their corn, and were glad to sell 
at almost any price, even at the risk of not getting their 
pay. However, he did run his establishment, difficult as 
it was ; he made money rapidly, paid off his debts, filled 
his cellar full of whisky, and the people all suddenly 
waked up to a knowledge of the fact that he was getting 
rich; and had he so continued, he would have become 
very wealthy. But Sylvanus Thompson, a man of some 
experience on the subject, and, withal, possessing good 
credit and some money, saw that there was a fortune in 
the business, and bought him out. Mr. Cole was not 
deceived in the business; but, having obtained some ex- 
perience, he designed to build a distillery three times as 
large as the one he had sold. For this purpose he pur- 
chased ground (whereas in the other case he had only 
leased the ground) and made some progress toward 
building a distillery ; but, his funds failing, he was de- 
layed a year or two, but finally raised sufficient means to 
complete it, and it proved a perfect success. Then, pell- 
mell, every man that could raise the means went into the 
whisky business — mostly upon borrowed money at high 
interest. 

Finally, by the year 1864, there were no less than 
twelve of these establishments in the city of Peoria 
alone, besides several others in the neighborhood owned 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



137 



and operated by Peorians. Those that were in operation 
in 1864 were run by the following persons, and of the 
following capacities : 

Charles R. Carroll 600 bushels. 

Higbie & Nusbaum 800 

Clarke & Ely 1,000 

Moss, Bradley & Co 1,200 

Gregg & Cockle 1,200 

Edward F. Rowland 1.000 

Sweeny, Littleton & Co 600 

D. C. Farrell 1,200 

James G. Spier 600 

Martin & Eastman 300 

Lightner & Schimpferman 1,200 

Thomas S. Dobbins 800 

The quantity of whisky these establishments threw on 
the market daily can be calculated with tolerable cer- 
tainty. They were capable of making, upon an average, 
fifteen quarts of whisky from a bushel of grain ; but it 
some times happened that some one, for want of a good 
distiller, or for want of good yeast, fell a little short of 
this. At the above rate they consumed 10,500 bushels 
of grain per day. This multiplied by 14-J-, in stead of 15, 
will produce 152,250 quarts, or 38,062-^ gallons of whisky. 
To contain this whisky, when reduced to highwines, re- 
quired 636 barrels daily, and 5,250 bushels of coal. Be- 
sides, thousands of beeves and hogs were fattened on the 
grain after the whisky had been extracted. Take also 
into the account the great number of men it took to oper- 
ate all these establishments, and some idea may be formed 
of their importance to the city. In fact, the lower part 
18 



138 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

of the city, in which these establishments were located, 
received a powerful impulse from them, until they were 
all suddenly brought to a stand, by what is generally 
called the two-dollar tax. Congress passed a law which, 
if I remember right, went into effect on the first of June, 
1864, laying a tax of two dollars a gallon upon all the 
whisky thereafter made. The effect of this was to raise 
the price of whisky on hand suddenly and enormously, 
so that those who had a quantity on hand, whether by 
having made it or bought it, would grow suddenly rich. 
Some congressmen were charged with having voted for 
the bill with this view, they having gone deeply into the 
whisky business as soon as they saw the bill would be 
passed. 

The avowed object of this tax was to increase the rev- 
enue; but, as every man well informed on the science of 
government knew would be the case, the revenue was 
thereby greatly diminished. It is a well-established 
principle in political economy that no duty should be 
laid on an article greater than the expense of producing 
it; otherwise, the great temptation to evade the law will 
operate as a bribe to men to do so. This being foreseen 
when such laws are passed, it is usual to provide ruinous 
penalties to deter men from violating them ; but this is 
beginning at the wrong end. In stead of inducing men 
to violate the law, and then punishing them for it, they 
should be induced to respect the law. When a man is 
brought to ruin for violating a law that is only malum 
prohibitum, many will say 'served him right'; but this 
man has friends and relatives, and, peradventure, depend- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 139 

ents : these become opposed to the law, and influence all 
they can against it, Finally another is ruined, and the 
same result follows ; and another, and another, until the 
opposition to the law becomes extensive, if not universal, 
and no informers can be found, and, if detectives should 
unearth a case, witnesses could not be found. Then of 
what avail would be the law ? Congress finally waked 
up to the fact that they were getting but little revenue, 
and blamed the wickedness of the age, in stead of their 
own folly. They passed a law reducing the tax, but 
surrounded the right to make whisky with so many ty- 
rannical and expensive concomitants that it is doubtful 
whether, even now, any one can make whisky profitably 
but those who evade the law. 

In many parts of the United States whisky was profit- 
ably made during the two-dollar tax, but not in Peoria. 
While the two-dollar tax was the law, whisky could be 
bought in Peoria, all regularly stamped, as if the taxes 
had been paid, for a less sum than the tax. Of course, 
the taxes had not been paid. In some districts distiller- 
ies were run as usual, but not so in Peoria. The whole 
business Avas broken up, doing an immense damage to 
the city. It is said, however, that there was an attempt 
on this side of the river — perhaps more than one attempt 
— to evade the law, but such results followed that those 
concerned were convinced of the truth of the old adage, 
' Honesty is the best policy.' 

Multiply 38,062, the quantity made in a day, in Peoria, 
before the two-dollar law went into force, by two, and 
you have $76,125 as the amount that this one interest 



140 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

was expected to pay every day to the general govern- 
ment; and multiply this sum by 300 as the working days 
in a year, and you have the enormous sum of $22,837,500 
for a year. But Peoria evaded this tax by not making 
the whisky, while many other places evaded it by making 
and selling the whisky without paying the tax, and 'Uncle 
Sam' got poor, while some of his collectors got rich. 
What a compliment in favor of the collectors on this side 
of the river. 

Could any legislation on this subject prevent men from 
drinking whisky (certainly a very foolish, if not a wicked 
habit), we might patiently submit to it, however great 
the pecuniary loss ; but I have not been able to perceive 
that any legislation affected this habit. After all, the 
amount of whisky drank is only a drop in the bucket, 
compared to the quantity manufactured. Just think of 
the amount made in Peoria alone, before the two-dollar 
tax went into operation : 38,062 gallons made every day, 
Sundays excepted, in one little town of 25,000 or 30,000 
people ! 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 141 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES. 

Besides the above manufactures, various others have 
been carried on to a greater or less extent. We have 
always had tailors and shoe and boot makers, who have 
made a portion of the clothing, etc., for our community; 
but a large portion of them have always been imported 
from the eastern cities, as articles of commerce. With 
regard to hats and caps, much the largest portion has 
always been imported. 

Formerly, Mr. John Ramsey had a small tan-yard and 
currying-shop, in which he manufactured leather; and 
Mr. Jacob Shaffner had a currying-shop, in w T hich he 
dressed leather that had been tanned elsewhere : except- 
ing the small amount of leather furnished by them, all 
that has been used in this part of the country has been 
brought from abroad. Several years ago, Mr. Shaffner 
withdrew from business, and Mr. Ramsey's health failed, 
and, after several years' affliction, he died, and now no 
tanning nor currying is carried on here, or hereabout. 

Since a pretty early time, we have had abundance of 
jewelers and silver-smiths here; but their operations have 
generally been confined to repairing jewelry, watches, 
and clocks. I do not know that any watch or clock was 
ever made in Peoria. Almost every house contains a 
clock, and nearly every man and woman in tolerably 



142 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

good circumstances carries a watch, and the most of 
ladies are ornamented, more or less, with jewelry; yet 
these are all imported into our state, and many of them 
from Europe. 

The same is true with regard to the harness and sad- 
cilery business. Although we have always had saddlers 
and harness-makers, we have always imported a consider- 
able amount of goods in that line of business. 

Except a few articles, occasionally made by Mr. Whit* 
temore and Mr. Weatherl, our cutlery and hardware has 
all been imported. 

We are woefully behind the times with regard to the 
manufacture of woolen goods; and those of hemp, flax, 
cotton and silk have never been attempted. Many years 
ago, more than twenty, Henry Hahn, with a set of black- 
smith's tools, without any of the ordinary machinery used 
for that purpose, built a steam-engine, and attached to it 
a carding-machine, on lot one in block 50, on Water 
street, and for a time carded wool with it; but after a 
while it was discontinued, for what reason I do not re- 
member. About the time this went down, two brothers, 
the two Messrs. Henderson, built a small woolen-mill, 
which they worked a while, but not to much profit to 
either themselves or the community. We have now in 
full operation a clothing-mill, carried on by Mr. Charles 
Raymond, which is likely to prove a complete success. 

No rolling-mill has ever been attempted here, nor ma- 
chinery for making railroad iron ; and, what may seem 
more strange, we have always imported all our glass, of 
all kinds. 



On page 142, for "Messrs. Henderson" read "Messrs. 
McCulloeh." 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 143 



Our great backwardness in going into these manufac- 
tures lias been owing, in part, to our want of capital, but 
it is also owing, in part, to the great disinclination of most 
people to embark in a new business, to which they are 
not accustomed. There is, perhaps, no country in the 
world better adapted to the culture of hemp than Illinois; 
yet no one in Illinois, with whom I am acquainted, can 
be induced to raise hemp. Nor is there any better place 
for the manufacture of whisky; yet, until an imprudent 
man, as Mr. A. S. Cole was then called, tested its feasi- 
bility, no man could be got to go into it. But Mr. Cole 
having proved it to be a money-making business, many 
went into it, and, but for the foolish legislation of Con- 
gress on the subject, it would be one of the best businesses 
in the country. 

So would it be with several other branches of business, 
should some enterprising man break the way, and prove 
their feasibility. Where, on this continent, could glass 
be more profitably made than at Peoria? There is no 
place where food and coal (the principal ingredients in 
the manufacture of any thing) can be got plentier or 
cheaper than at Peoria, and the best of sand for glass- 
making can be floated down the river, or brought down 
on the railroad, for a trifling expense. The saving of 
freights, however, is perhaps the greatest argument in 
favor of making glass here. A large portion, and some 
times the largest portion, of the cost of heavy articles is 
on account of freights. Cotton is shipped from Memphis 
to Boston at a cost much greater than would bring it to 
Peoria. It is manufactured by machinery propelled by 



144 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 

coal costing three times as much as coal at Peoria costs ; 
by men eating food costing a fourth more than food at 
Peoria would cost; and then sold to us at a price that 
pays all these charges, and a profit to all concerned. 
Why not ship the cotton here at once, and save the extra 
expense of getting it to Boston, and the freight from 
Boston here, and the difference between the coal and 
food here and at Boston? Besides, patriotism — self- 
interest — prompts us to give employment to our own 
men, in preference to those abroad; or, if we lack com- 
petent men, to cause them to emigrate, with their fami- 
lies, to help build up our city. 

We have always had carpenters and house-joiners, but 
formerly it was a part of their business to make the doors 
and sash, and plane and tongue-and-groove the flooring 
by hand. All the machinery by which these things are 
now done is of modern invention; and as we had no 
poplar nor pine before the canal and railroads were made, 
to operate by hand on oak and walnut was a tedious and 
tiresome business. So hard was the wood that we used 
for floors, and so tedious was the operation of planing 
and tongueing-and-grooving such lumber, that I gave a 
man a cow to lay the floor in my kitchen, a room eighteen 
feet square from out to out. That floor, however, has 
been scrubbed and walked on for nearly twenty-six years, 
and is worth more now than a new pine floor. 

Now, the making of sash and doors and the planing of 
boards for joiner work are a separate trade. No carpen- 
ter or joiner would now think of making his own doors 
and sash, or planing his joiner lumber, any more than a 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 145 

shoemaker or saddler would think of tanning the leather 
used in the course of his business. 

The following are the principal carpenters and joiners 
in the city, and some of them are good architects : Chas. 
Ulricson, Valentine Jobst, Joseph Miller, sr., Henry 
Jacobs, McKenzie & Eckley, William Comegys, M. F. 
Meints, John Waugh, E. Baldwin, Ruley & Bro., Tod- 
hunter & Son, J. Buell, D. J. Bracken, W. J. Gardner, 
G. Herwig, Peter Blumb, Bramble &> Lynch, Pether- 
bridge & Stonier, G. L. Ryors. 

The following men have figured as carpenters and 
joiners in this city, but their names are not in the above 
list, because they have all gone to ' that bourne from 
which no traveler e'er returns ', viz., Henry Gilbert, 
George W. Peed, Chester Hamlin, Thomas J. Hard, 
David Markley, John S. Pierce, and Daniel Brestel. 

There are three principal planing-mills here, where 
materials are prepared for the house-joiners, and where 
sash and doors are also made on a large scale. They are 
owned and operated by Mr. William Truesdale, Mr. D. 
J. Bracken, and Messrs. Hicks & Herschberger. Some 
others make doors and sash, but on a smaller scale. 

A planing-mill has also lately been put in operation, on 
Washington street, by Messrs. Shield & Izatt. 

Of late years, the making of corn-planters has become 
a very considerable business with us. Messrs. James 
Selby & Co. do the largest business in this line. They 
tell me they work from fifty-five to sixty men, and that 
they made last year 1,600 planters, and only worked 

19 



146 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



eight months in the year; and they sell all they make, at 
wholesale, for $60 each. 

Messrs. Hearst, Dunn & Co., and Messrs. Nicol, Burr 
& Co. (see Chap. XXII), are also carrying on this busi- 
ness, to a considerable extent, and all have machinery 
adapted to each particular thing, so that steam is made 
to do nearly all the work. Messrs. Hearst, Dunn & Co. 
also carry on the manufacture of saws and sickles for 
reaping and mowing machines. 

In the millwright business none have obtained a greater 
degree of public confidence than Mr. George Greenwood, 
Augustine Greenwood, and I. G. Reynolds. The latter 
also carries on the manufacture of mill-stones. 

The manufacture of starch here, in the midst of the 
greatest corn-producing region in the world, seemed for 
awhile to be a failure; but, under the management of 
Mr. E. S. AYillcox, it promises to be decidedly a success. 

Ever since the Germans began to settle in Peoria, the 
manufacture of beer has been deemed essential. Fred- 
erick Miller is the pioneer in this business. At a very 
early day, I judge about thirty-three years ago, he estab- 
lished a brewery, and for some years had the whole busi- 
ness in his hands; and had not much to boast of at that, 
for there were but few Germans here then, and the 
Americans had not learned to relish ' lager '. But the 
Germans have greatly increased since then, and many of 
the Americans, English and Irish have proved to be apt 
scholars in learning to use this beverage, and Friend 
Miller no longer has the whole thing his own way. 
There are now several breweries in the city, one, at least, 
of which makes more beer than Mr. Miller ever made. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA* 147 

The following-named persons are in the brewery busi- 
ness, viz., Lutz & Lincoln, Gipps & Shurtleff, Joseph 
Huber & Son, Sehmer & Fuchs, Wichmann & Co., and 
C. Bitz. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



RAILROADS. 



It is only lately that railroads came into use any where. 
In the winter of 1836-7, the legislature of Illinois ran 
wild on the subject of internal improvements; and, al- 
though we had not a dollar in the treasury, nor a man 
who had had any experience in railroading, and but few 
who had ever seen a railroad, they passed a law to make 
many millions of dollars' worth of railroads, checkering 
up the state like a chess-board. The state depended 
upon English capital for all this; and so good was the 
credit of the young state, that capital enough for any 
reasonable amount of railroads might have been obtained, 
and in fact was got, but all that was obtained was nothing 
to the amount required to complete so many and so great 
works. If one road at a time had been completed, the 
people at home would have had greater faith in railroads, 
and capitalists abroad would have had more confidence 
in our rulers; but this was not the plan adopted. Men 



148 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



were set to work on every road, all over the state, and 
immense amounts of money were expended, without any 
returns. Confidence was lost in our rulers, and no more 
money could be obtained, and the whole thing burst up 
like a mighty bubble — like John Law's financial opera- 
tions. Under that law, Peoria county had a considerable 
amount of grading done, on what was called the Peoria 
and Warsaw Railroad, but not a mile of road finished. 

For several years the people were much disgusted with 
railroads ; but in process of time this feeling wore away, 
and on the 12th day of February, 1849, the legislature 
granted a charter to the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad 
Company, by which charter they were authorized to build 
and construct a railroad from the City of Peoria, on the 
Illinois, to the town of Oquawka, on the Mississippi river. 
Any one acquainted with that part of the country can see 
at once that Burlington was the natural terminus of this 
road, on the Mississippi, because it was a larger place 
than Oquawka, and because it was a much better place 
to cross the river ; but there were influences brought to 
bear on the legislature, in favor of the latter and against 
the former, on account of which the bill could only be 
passed with Oquawka as the terminus. But the bill 
having been passed, and those influences becoming less 
potent, the legislature, on the 10th day of February, 1851, 
amended said charter by a clause permitting said com- 
pany to make a branch of said road to Burlington. On 
the 20th of June, 3 851, the stockholders of said company 
met at Knoxville, and organized under said charter; and 
on the 22d of June, 1852, said charter was amended so as 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 149 

to permit said company to extend said road east to the 
Indiana state line. Burlington being the point desired 
by capitalists, they made the road to that point, but not, 
to this day, to Oquawka; and as no time was prescribed 
within which the road should be completed to reach 
Oquawka, I imagine it will never reach there. The road 
from Peoria to Burlington is 93 miles, from Peoria to the 
state line 100 miles, and from Peoria to Logansport 173 
miles. Through much tribulation, and a considerable 
amount of rascality, this road was finally worked through, 
and has become a good and profitable road. A great 
drawback to it, however, is the fact that it was broken in 
two at Peoria, and the western end fell into the hands of 
the road now called the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 
road. This was done by said corporation obtaining a 
majority of the mortgage bonds that had been issued by 
the Peoria and Oquawka road, and foreclosing them, and 
buying in the westerly half. It would seem manifestly 
the interest of Peoria to have this whole road under the 
management of one board of directors, so as to have the 
trains run through without a change of cars or want of 
proper connection at Peoria. But the managers of the 
C, B. & Q. road (as it is now universally abbreviated) 
have been charged with constantly discriminating against 
Peoria, and purposely running their trains so as not to 
connect with those on the eastern end of the road, and 
with carrying produce away from Peoria much more 
cheaply than to it. This course not only created great 
dissatisfaction with the people of Peoria, but it caused 
the owners of the eastern end to put forth so much ex- 



150 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

ertion as to extend their road through to the Mississippi, 
at Warsaw and Keokuk. And, moreover, said road, 
which is now called the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw 
Railway, is so managed that passengers and freight can 
pass through from Peoria to Toledo with only one change 
of cars or freight, and to New York, or Springfield, 
Mass., without any change at all. Still further, the Pres- 
ident of the T., P. & W. Railway, as the other road is 
called, tells me that he has made such arrangements with 
parties in Iowa that he will, in a short time, have trains 
running through southern Iowa to Xebraska City, on the 
westerly bank of the Missouri river, and that too without 
involving the City of Peoria a dime; so that the opposi- 
tion of the C, B. & Q. road to Peoria has redounded 
greatly to our interest. 

The City of Peoria took stock to encourage the building 
of this road (east and west) to the amount of $225,000, 
all of which has been lost; but the people were not so 
much incensed at losing so large amount of stock as at 
the belief that a company who had swallowed up the 
stock should, in transacting business, discriminate against 
them. 

With regard to the Bureau Valley Railroad, the city 
has been more fortunate. It subscribed $50,000 to that 
road, but made a permanent lease of it to the Rock Island 
road on such terms as to lose nothing, but actually to 
make a little money. That road has been well managed, 
to the satisfaction, so far as I know, of every one. 

We have a railroad now in successful operation from 
Peoria to Jacksonville, and through certain connections 
to St. Louis, that has cost the city nothing. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 151 



A railroad is now being built from Peoria to Rock 
Island, for which the city has subscribed, and has to pro- 
vide for, stock to the amount of $100,000, and the County 
of Peoria, including the city, $100,000. Of this, about 
$60,000 falls on the city to pay. 

A railroad was projected from Peoria to Hannibal, and 
to procure the making of this road the County of Peoria 
involved itself to the amount of $75,000. Of this about 
$45,000 falls on the city to pay. This road, however, has 
never been made, and probably never will be. 

A company has been incorporated to construct a rail- 
road from Peoria to Decatur, of which Hon. John T. 
Lindsay, of this city, is President, and he assures me it 
will be speedily built. If it shall be built, the City of 
Peoria, by a vote of the people, has agreed to pay $100,- 
000 toward the expense of it. 

This company is called the Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur 
Railroad Company. The following is the Board of Di- 
rectors, viz. : John T. Lindsay, President y J. C. Prescott, 
William II. Cruger, Robert G. Ingersoll, Seth Talbot, A. 
Dills, W. Dunham, II. Armington, T. Tolland, O. Smith, 
J. Milligan, Directors/ S. H. Carter, Engineer. 

The reader here again will please turn to his map, and 
see the situation we soon will be in : at least, the situation 
we are now in. When at the map before, we discovered 
a fine country, and one of the finest navigable rivers in 
America, and in that river a beautiful expansion called 
Lake Peoria, and at the lower end of that lake the town- 
site of Peoria. Now behold five railroads completed, 
and in full operation, all centring here, and two not 



152 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

completed, but both expected soon to be. The road from 
Peoria to Bureau Junction connects with the Chicago and 
Rock Island road, forty-nine miles northeast of Peoria, 
and the Peoria and Rock Island road will soon be in 
connection with the Pacific Ocean. From the map you 
may see that it crosses the C, B. & Q., besides others in 
Iowa. The T. P. & W. road, besides the advantages 
above named, crosses the Illinois Central at Gilman and 
El Paso, and the Chicago and St. Louis road at Chenoa ; 
and west of the Illinois it crosses a branch of the C, B. 
& Q. road at Canton, and the principal C, B. & Q. Road 
at Bushnell. The Peoria and Oquawka road, which has 
become a branch of the C, B. & Q. road, intersects a 
branch of the same at Yates City, and the principal road 
at Galesburg. The Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville road 
intersects the Toledo, Wabash and Western road at 
Jacksonville. The Peoria and Rock Island road, besides 
crossing the C, B. & Q., will have, at Davenport, con- 
nections with all the Northwest. Mr. Lindsay's road, 
besides crossing the Jacksonville, Petersburg and Tonica 
road and the Chicago and St. Louis road, will have direct 
connection, at Decatur, with all the South and Southeast. 
While I have been writing these chapters, the C, B. 
& Q. R. R. Company have quietly been building, and 
have completed, a branch of their road from Elmwood to 
Buda, through the back part of Peoria county, making, 
by means of their other roads, another tolerably direct 
route from Peoria to Chicago, and bringing the immense 
coal-fields of Peoria and Fulton counties into connection 
with the Chicago market. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 153 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



LIGHTS. 



In early times tallow candles were used, more than 
all other things, to light our houses of nights ; but, in pro- 
cess of time, stearine candles and lard oil, to a consider- 
able extent, took their place. By-and-by spirit-gas, and 
then kerosene oil, became to be much in use; but they 
proved to be dangerous, as well as unfashionable, and 
coal-gas, has well-nigh superseded them all. 

In January, 1853, the legislature incorporated the 'Peo- 
ria Gas-Light and Coke Company '. Soon afterward a 
company was organized in pursuance to that charter. 
They commenced supplying the central parts of the city 
first, and, as they progressed in laying down the gas- 
pipes, they superseded all other kinds of light; but, as 
the city is spread over a large space of ground, and the 
population is too sparse in the suburbs for it to pay well 
to take gas to them, there are many yet in the city who 
are deprived of the benefits of this modern invention. It 
is now, however, so far extended that in all the thickly- 
settled parts of the city the people enjoy this comfort, not 
only in the streets, but also in their houses. 

It was originally supposed that the coal for the manu- 
facture of this gas would have to be brought from East- 
ern Ohio or Western Pennsylvania, because the vein of 
20 



154 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

coal generally used here for heating houses and propell- 
ing machinery contains too much sulphur to answer the 
purpose of making gas. It has, however, for several 
years been known that another vein of coal, lying higher 
and a little further off, answers well for gas-making. 
This costs a little more than the common kind, but it is 
much cheaper than that brought from abroad. After 
the gas is extracted from the coal, it is still valuable as 
coke, and for some purposes more valuable than the coal. 

This luxury, however, is exceedingly expensive. Like 
most modern improvements, it was recommended as a 
matter of economy; but, upon trial, I think it the most 
expensive plan of lighting a house or city that has ever 
been contrived. The company charges the city thirty- 
two dollars a year for every street lamp they keep lighted, 
and they have enough of them for their charge against 
the city alone to come to $12,000. It should be borne in 
mind that the lamps do not burn all night, except when 
it is entirely dark. They are not permitted to burn when 
the moon is up, although, by reason of clouds, it be dark. 

They charge individuals $3.50 per 1000 cubic feet. At 
this rate, to light a private residence costs from ten to fif- 
teen dollars per month — say $150 a year; but this is 
small compared to the amount it costs to light machine- 
shops, stores, saloons, public halls, etc. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 165 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



BOATING. 



In early times there was but little boating on the Illi- 
nois, because there was but little to bring to the country, 
and less to take out of it. There were plenty of Indian 
canoes here, in those days; but when the Indians disap- 
peared, canoes were not long disappearing. When white 
men had to do the work of making their small craft, they 
preferred making skiffs. Those who have never been 
accustomed to canoes will think this was a great change 
for the better. When timber became valuable, it was as 
a matter of economy, for each canoe required a whole 
tree, and a large one at that. Otherwise the canoe was 
the better boat for the Indian and the backwoodsman. 
Those accustomed to them could run them with great 
speed, and were in no danger of capsizing them. 

Pirogues and Mackinaw boats had been discontinued 
before I arrived. Several flat-boats (broad horns) were 
run out of the river with produce, in early times, but the 
steamboats soon superseded them. The Messrs. Voris 
built two or three flat-boats, on the bank of the lake, be- 
tween Main and Fulton streets, about the years 1834 and 
1835. I believe they built one as late as 1840. They 
carried mostly pork, but some whisky and other articles 
of country produce. Steamboats could have been ob- 



156 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

tained to carry the produce, but the other mode was 
thought to be cheaper; and besides, it gave the owner 
the choice to stop wherever he could find the best market. 

On the 10th of March, 1832, I arrived on a steamboat 
from St. Louis, which was the first that had been up, or 
that could come up, on account of the lateness of the ice 
in the river. It often happens that the river is open in 
January, as far up as Peoria; but that winter it froze up 
about the 25th of November, and so remained to the 10th 
of March, and but for a strong south wind which blew 
all day and broke up the ice, the steamboat could not 
have got in on that day. 

The winter of 1835-1836 was worse than tliis. The 
ice then became solid (if I remember correctly) on the 
15th of November, and so remained until the 15th of 
March ; but these were exceptions. 

I remember a steamboat coming from St. Louis to 
Peoria in the spring of 1832, of which one Smith, a man 
of showy appearance, was captain. AVlio he was I do 
not know, for I have never seen him since. Shortly be- 
fore this, say in November, 1831, Snatchwine, an Indian 
chief of the Pottawatamie tribe, whose village was about 
a mile above Chillicothe, had died, which threw the band 
into much grief, and some confusion. He had a son, a 
larger and a better looking man than Pottawatamies 
usually were; but, like many other Indians, he was a 
drunken fellow. For this or some other reason his au- 
thority was not much regarded by his tribe; yet he felt 
his consequence, and concluded to pay a visit to Captain 
Smith, on his boat, He had to walk a long plank to get 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 157 

on board. Before he was quite at the upper end, some 
mischievous felknvs turned the plank, and threw liim into 
the river. He came out perfectly wet, and in a high rage. 
The spectators began to reflect on what had been done, 
and became alarmed lest he and some of his tribe, who 
were near, might get up a row, and burn the boat or vil- 
lage; but no one present could understand a word he 
said, nor could he understand a word they said. In the 
mean time, Captain Smith, who was some where in the 
village, and heard of the muss, made his appearance, and 
pacified the Indian, by apologizing in a bland and familiar 
manner, in a language he did not understand a word of. 
The Indian's wrath cooled down, and he became mild 
and good-natured, and I presume expressed his satisfac- 
tion in Pottawatamie, for he said much in a calm tone, 
that no one understood. Tone and gesture did the busi- 
ness. 

As time progressed, the business of the city greatly 
increased; and as there were no railroads in those days, 
the business of the city was done by steamboats. 
Drown's Directory for 1851 speaks thus of the steamboat 
business previous to that year: "The first steamboat that 
arrived at Peoria was the Liberty (formerly known as 
the Native), in the month of December, 1829. In the 
spring of 1830, Mr. John Hamlin went to St, Louis to 
make purchases to return to Peoria. He chartered the 
S. B. Triton to bring up his stock of goods. This was 
the second steamboat to this place. In 1832 the Fairy 
made a trip, and a contract was made by Mr. Hamlin to 
purchase one half of the boat on her return and delivery; 



158 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

but in a short time thereafter she was lost, near the mouth 
of the Missouri, on her upward trip. In 1833 three 
steamboats were running on the Illinois to this plaee, viz., 
the Exchange, Utility, and Peoria. In 1834 there was 
added to these the Express, Herald, Argus, and Winne- 
bago. Others were added, as the commerce on the river 
increased, and in 1840 there were forty-four; in 1841, the 
number was sixty. From that time up to 1844 they had 
increased to one hundred and fifty different boats, seven- 
teen of which were regular packets: and the number has 
been increasing ever since. Some of our citizens have 
become owners and part owners in some of them. In the 
spring of 1848, our enterprising citizen, Captain W. S. 
Moss, purchased the hull of one of the burned boats at 
St. Louis (the Avalanche), and had it towed up to Peoria. 
He had her put upon the stocks, about twenty feet added 
to her length, and completely rebuilt by Peoria workmen, 
and ready for the fall trade of that year. The next 
spring, 1849, the keel of another steamboat was laid in 
Peoria, and furnished with the engine of the Oregon, 
which had been wrecked on Beardstown bar. The boat 
was commenced by Captain David Brown, who sold her 
before she was finished, and is called the Kingston, at 
which place she is owned (about 18 miles below this), 
and is engaged in the coal-trade, and towing canal-boats 
from Lasalle and intermediate points to St. Louis." 

He then goes on to give a list of all steamboat arrivals 
and departures during the year 1850, and the tonnage of 
ail those boats, from which it appears that there were, 
during that year, engaged in the Illinois trade, as high 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 159 

up as Peoria, 59 steamboats, whose tonnage was rated at 
9,463 tons, at ship carpenters' measurement; whereas it 
was well known that boats carry about a third more than 
the estimated tonnage, and that they carry much more 
down stream than up stream. And that the number of 
steamboat arrivals at our quay had been 1,236; about 
300 more than there were in 1847. In addition to this, 
we had had more than double the number of canal-boats. 

Since that time, however, although the business of the 
country has immensely increased, yet railroad facilities 
have so far kept ahead of this increase that the steamboat 
business has greatly fallen off. Now there are only four 
regular boats running between Peoria and St. Louis; 
three of them only running as high up as Peoria, but one 
runs farther up, generally as high up as Lasalle. There 
are, however, generally about eight steamboats of a less 
expensive class, called tow-boats, the main business of 
wdiich is to carry freight, partly in their holds, and partly 
in canal-boats and barges. They, however, carry some 
passengers. 

Compare the above with the following article taken 
from Drown's Almanac and Business Directory for 1851, 
and remark the contrast, and remember that the business 
of the country has greatly increased since then : 

" By this list it will be seen there have been fifty-nine 
steamboats engaged in the trade of the Illinois as high 
up as this city, whose tonnage is rated at 9,463 tons at 
ship carpenters' measurement; but it is a well-known 
fact that our steamboats will carry about one-third more 
than the estimated tonnage, and also they carry much 
more dow r n stream than up. There have been 1,236 ar- 



100 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

rivals of steamers at our wharf the past season, about 300 
more than there were in 1847. In addition to this, we 
have had more than double the number of canal-boats. 
It will also be seen that this list does not take into ac- 
count barges and Jf> it-boats. I think the amount of pro- 
duce exported from Peoria has equaled that of any pre- 
ceding year, and it is well-known that our importations, 
including merchandise, lumber, etc., have been quadru- 
pled." 

NAME OF BOAT. TOXXAGE. TRIPS. 

Alleghany Mail 7 7 2 

Lamartine 175 4 

Daniel Hillman 145 42 

Pioneer 209 30 

Falcon 144 76 

Mountaineer 213 60 

Kingston 145 72 

Archer 148 30 

Planter 200 48 

Martha No. 2 177 18 

Lightfoot 155 4 

Movastar 140 60 

Avalanche 220 77 

Senator 121 32 

Prairie Bird 215 56 

Tiger 83 28 

Andrew Jackson 290 12 

Connecticut 249 56 

Robert Fulton 200 28 

Ocean Wave 205 66 

Schuylkill 272 6 

Enterprise 200 2 

Wyoming 198 2 

Carried forward 4,181 811 



HISTORY OF PEOEIA. 161 



Brought forward 4181 811 

Alliquippa 215 8 

Buena Vista 266 4 

St. Croix 160 16 

Laurel 80 10 

Citizen 171 2 

Beardstown 80 40 

Gov. Briggs 91 6 

Jewess 220 18 

Alvarado 1 35 22 

Niagara 215 12 

Susquehanna 142 14 

J. J. Crittenden 225 2 

Caleb Cope 80 40 

Belmont 115 36 

Gen. Gaines 160 12 

Time and Tide 261 6 

Eureka 115 26 

Piasa 85 6 

Magnet 98 8 

Pearl 54 4 

Comet 116 18 

Financier 125 18 

America 145 30 

Uncle Toby 109 2 

Hudson 95 16 

Prairie State 288 44 

Kentucky 140 22 

Daniel Boone 170 2 

Mary Stevens 225 4 

Newton Wagner 105 6 

Visitor 141 2 

Mary Blain 181 2 

Oswego 187 4 

Clermont 112 1 

R. H. Lee 180 2 

Total tonnage and trips .9463 ~1236 

21 



162 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

SHADE-TREES, FRUIT-TREES, AND SMALL FRUITS. 

Peoria is not so well supplied with shade-trees as it 
ought to be. This is mainly owing to two reasons: 1st. 
TVe have generally been cursed with ignorant engineers, 
who, in grading the streets, in nearly all cases, took the 
sidewalks down, when they would have been better as 
nature made them, and thus many trees were destroyed, 
after we had waited years for them to grow. 2d. Our 
first shade-trees were generally the black locust, which 
had always been a thrifty and healthy tree; and they 
grew remarkably well a few years, but lately we can not 
raise them at all. I had on my premises, I suppose, a 
hundred, all of which were destroyed by worms. Since 
that several other kinds of trees have been found to suc- 
ceed well ; but I believe the favorite, at this time, is the 
soft maple. The hard or sugar maple makes a beautiful 
tree, but where the land is sandy it is a slow grower. 
The silver poplar is a fast grower, and a handsome tree; 
but it sprouts as badly as the black locust, and some times 
the same or a similar worm attacks it. The honey locust 
is not attacked by the borers, and it is a hardy, thrifty tree. 

Every man of taste desires a small garden and orchard 
about his house, if he has ground enough for that purpose. 
Every part of our soil is well adapted for this purpose, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 163 

but that on the bluff is the best. The top soil is good 
enough any where, but there is a portion of the city based 
on clean, dry sand : fruit-trees of no kind do so well here 
as where the foundation is clay. The trees when young 
will do well enough where there is sand below, but when 
the roots have penetrated into the sand, they become 
sickly, and some times die. Perhaps in this statement I 
should except pears. I am inclined to think they will do 
better here than in the black, rich prairie. They are not 
subject to the blight here as they are there. Some years 
ago, when the blight was fatal in some neighborhoods, 
we had but very little of it, and, for twelve or fifteen 
years, I have not had a case of it. I would therefore say 
that pears succeed remarkably well in Peoria. 

Apples do well on the bluff, but only tolerably well be- 
low. Like other parts of the state, we have a kind of 
worm, called borers, in the trees, and a different kind that 
eats into the fruit; yet we raise a considerable quantity 
of excellent apples. 

Plum-trees do not generally do well. Some do not 
grow well in our soil, and others are destroyed by the 
worm called curculio. Often the aphides, or tree-lice, in- 
jure the trees, but the borer never does. Perhaps I ought 
to except out of this general condemnation the green- 
gage plum. It generally grows well, and bears well, but 
it some times suffers from cold. 

Peaches, apricots and nectarines are not worth raising 
here. The soil is congenial to them, but the peaches are 
constantly preyed upon by the borers, and all are liable 
to be frozen to death, any cold winter; and when the 



164 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

weather is not cold enough to kill the trees, it will some 
times kill the fruit in the bud, so that, although the trees 
will live, and grow in the spring, they will not bloom, 
and some times the late spring frost kills them in the 
bloom. I have, however, once seen fine apricots and nec- 
tarines grow in this city; and I have several times seen 
fine crops of peaches here. The failures, however, have 
been so great that all, so far as I know, have quit trying 
to raise apricots and nectarines. A few peach-trees are 
still cultivated, and, when they do bear, bear well. 

Quinces have been pronounced a failure here; but I 
think it is owing to a mistake in bringing them from the 
North in stead of from the South. An impression pre- 
vails that our climate is too cold for them. My opinion 
is that it is not the cold of winter that injures and some 
times kills our quince-trees, but the dry, hot weather of 
August and July. My first quince-trees were from the 
North, and they grew badly, and bore no fruit. Those I 
have now are from the South, and, though they do not do 
well, they do better than the others did. I now get some 
fruit, and hope we will yet get a kind that will do well. 

Cherries, except the morellos and the early Richmond 
(called by some early May), have proved aj>erfect failure. 
All kinds grow well a while, but some will die before 
they bear, while others will bear a year or two and then 
die. The morello is healthy, and leaves very well, and 
the fruit is generally perfect. The fungus or black smut 
on the twigs, that has ruined the morello cherries in 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, is unknown in Illinois. The 
early Richmond is always healthy, and bears full every 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 165 

year. No one who has a rod of vacant ground should be 
without a tree of this kind. Any man who has a morello 
tree can graft it with this kind. There is a prejudice 
against this, and some nurserymen deny grafting on mo- 
rellos : but I presume they all do it, for all the trees of 
this kind, that I have seen, send up morello sprouts. 
This, in fact, is the greatest objection to them, but it is 
not insuperable; it only requires to cut them off twice a 
year — in April with a grubbing-hoe, just under the sur- 
face, and in July with a scythe, as low as convenient. 

Grapes, of the American kinds, generally do well in 
our city. Some times the Isabella and Catawba need 
protection from the cold, but they generally can bear our 
winters without covering. When they do not get killed, 
they bear very fine fruit. They are seldom affected by 
any disease, such as the mildew or rot. There are sev- 
eral new hardy kinds, that are said never to need cover- 
ing in this place. I apprehend no Euroj^ean kind would 
succeed here. I once planted the seeds of a very fine 
grape from Spain. They grew, but did no good. After 
looking sickly for two or three years, they all died, with- 
out ever have borne a graj^e. 

The small fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, rasp- 
berries, and strawberries^ succeed well, in every part of 
the city and neighborhood; but the currants, in my opin- 
ion, do better on the bluff, and the gooseberries on the 
sandy land below. The mildew, that is so fatal to the 
latter in the black, rich prairies, has never injured mine, 
in the sandy land. I have gooseberry bushes that are 
more than twenty years old, that have borne full every 



166 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

year for twenty years, without having been mildewed 
once. 1 have been told, however, that cuttings taken 
from my bushes to richer and moister lands have proved 
subject to mildew. For some reason, that I can not ex- 
plain, raspberries formerly did well in my garden, but 
finally all died out. When mine first began to die, those 
of my neighbor, Mr. Voris, were healthy; but after a 
while his died also. Last spring I procured and planted 
others, and will soon see whether my land has perma- 
nently become incapable of bearing that kind of fruit. 
Blackberries do well in Illinois generally, but not in the 
sandy parts of the City of Peoria. The above fact with 
regard to raspberries is not new in the science of vegeta- 
tion. A species of grass or weed will some times over- 
run a piece of ground, and keep possession of it for sev- 
eral years, and then, without any seeming cause, disap- 
pear. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



WATER. 



Peoria has never been much afflicted for want of 
Water. Should every other resource fail, the Illinois river, 
at hand, is inexhaustible. In old times there were springs 
of clear, cool water issuing from the bank, between high 
and low water, all along in front of the town-site; and as 



HISTORY OP PEORIA, 167 

the first inhabitants settled near the river, they were thus 
well supplied. As they began to settle farther back, 
wells were dug. They found no difficulty in this, as far 
back as "Washington street. It was found that every 
where between the bluff and river the earth was full of 
water, to the level of the water in the river, and that, that 
far back, it was not so deep but that an ordinary pump 
would reach it, and the composition of the soil was such 
that it would not cave in while digging. On and further 
back than Adams street, the depth became too great for 
a suction pump, being from sixty to seventy feet. Be- 
sides, the earth, at a distance of about four feet, became 
dry running sand, that endangered the well-digger, and 
required him to put in curbing as he went down. To 
accommodate those who lived on the high sandy ground, 
cisterns were resorted to by all who could afford the ex- 
pense. The poor, who could not afford the expense of 
cisterns, some times had to pay the drayman to haul 
them water. Those along the bluff were accommodated 
with water by small springs that occasionally are met 
with, issuing from the bluff. 

It being early known that a part of the city would suf- 
fer inconvenience on account of the difficulty of digging 
wells, and drawing water from them when dug, men be- 
gan to look out for some better way of getting water. 
So long ago as 1833, Stephen Stillman, a man of some 
enterprise, but entirely void of efficiency, on account of 
an inordinate habit of drinking ardent spirits, attempted 
to bring water from a spring which issued, and perhaps 
still issues, from the bluff, in front of the old Frink resi- 



168 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

dence, now in the possession of Dr. Cooper. At the 
March term of the county commissioners' court, in 1833, 
an agreement was made between them and him, " his heirs, 
executors, assigns or associates, who shall have the exclu- 
sive privilege to bring water on to the public square," in 
lead, wood or other pipes; which was to be completed 
about the first of June, 1834. The principal object the 
county commissioners had in view was to obtain water 
to make mortar for the court-house they were about to 
build. Stillman used wooden pipes, bored by hand. 
These 'water-works' fell through almost immediately, 
probably for want of money and credit on the part of the 
proprietor. But had he had both, he must ultimately 
have failed, because of the insufficiency of the supply of 
water. 

Subsequently a company was formed for the same pur- 
pose, and they actuall}- excavated and built over, with sub- 
stantial masonry, a spring which then issued from the 
bluff in the northeast corner of section 8, T. 8 "N., R. 8 
E. of the 4th principal meridian, and through substantial 
leaden pipes they conveyed the water to several families 
in the city, who still enjoy its benefit; but although this 
spring is larger than the other, it was soon made satis- 
factorily to appear that it was entirely too small for gen- 
eral purposes. 

Other unsuccessful attempts were made to get up 
water-companies; but, until the present year, a majority 
of our people have depended upon cisterns, and water 
from their house-tops, for a supply of the indispensable 
element. For the purpose of drinking when one becomes 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 169 



used to it, especially when (as in Peoria) one has plenty 
of ice, this is as good as any, and for washing better. 
The whole town-site, from the bluff to the river, is an al- 
luvial bank of sand and gravel, and is a first-rate filter. 
At the depth of the river it is always full of water, and 
no common pump is sufficient to exhaust it; and this nat- 
ural filter purifies the water of the ordinary impurities, 
and in fact of foreign matters generally, except lime. All 
our wells, as well as our springs and the river, have been 
found to contain in solution a considerable quantity of 
lime; but as this has been abundantly proved not to be 
prejudicial to health, it was not this fact that prevented 
wells from coming into general use, but it was the fact 
that, further from the river than Washington street, it 
became, as above stated, very difficult to dig wells, and 
for the further reason, as also above stated, that, further 
back than that street, the depth becomes too great for a 
common pump to operate. 

On the 20th day of February, 1869, an act was passed 
by the legislature granting a new charter to the City of 
Peoria, by which are granted to the city the most extra- 
ordinary powers, on the subject of water-works. They 
are authorized " To erect and construct water-works, 
either within or without the corporate limits of said city, 
for the purpose of supplying the City of Peoria with a 
sufiicient quantity of pure and wholesome water, to be 
taken from Lake Peoria, or elsewhere"; and, for that 
purpose, to buy and hold any amount of real or personal 
property that may be necessary for that object; and to 
make all rules and regulations about the same they may 
22 



170 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

think proper; and to " enter upon any land or water, 
within or without the corporate limits of said city," which 
is, however, to be paid for, according to the provisions of 
"An act to amend the law condemning right of way for 
purposes of internal improvements, approved Jnne 2 2d, 
1852, and the act or acts to which the same is an amend- 
ment." To accomplish all which, it is provided that " the 
city council shall have power to borrow, from time to 
time, as they shall deem expedient, a sum of money not 
exceeding $500,000 in all, and issue bonds therefor, 
pledging the faith and credit of said city for the payment 
of the principal and interest of said bonds." 

Bat the most noticeable part of said charter is the 9th 
section of the 12th chapter, which is in these words : " The 
said city council shall have power, from time to time, by 
ordinance, to provide for and assess and collect, as water- 
rents, or assessments, such amounts as they may deem 
equitable, on any lots of land which shall abut and adjoin 
any street, avenue or alley, in said city, through which 
the distributing-pipes of the water-works of said city are 
or may hereafter be laid, which shall have a building or 
buildings thereon, whether the water from the water- 
works of said city shall be used in said building or build- 
ings, or on such lot, or not; and the said assessment shall 
be and become a continuing lien or charge upon all such 
lots, or buildings situated thereon." 

Under this charter an immense amount of money has 
b3en borrowed and expended in procuring water for the 
city, and to a large portion of the city it is now supplied; 
but the cold weather and a scarcity of funds have 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 171 

checked the work for the present, but during the next 
year the water will probably be supplied to all the most 
populous part of the city. 

The plan has not been, as usual, to force the water into 
a large reservoir on an eminence, from which distributing- 
pipes carry it to all parts of the city ; but a large pipe has 
been extended into the lake, some two miles above the 
city, and by a large steam-engine the water is forced 
through that, and many smaller pipes connecting with it, 
to all parts of the city, so fin* as the system has been car- 
ried out. 

I do not propose to discuss the propriety of these pro- 
ceedings. But it is proper to state, as a historical fact, 
that there are those, and they are not few, who think that 
the whole thing is an unconscionable outrage on the pub- 
lic. They do not see why the city should be run in debt 
a half a million dollars for that which could be better 
done for a very small portion of that sum. They do not 
see why our population, for all time, should be doomed 
to drink the most filthy water, when pure water can be ob- 
tained, any where between the bluff and the river, in an 
ample quantity, for comparatively a trifling sum; nor do 
they see why, if they must drink the impure water of 
Lake Peoria, they might not get it further down, and 
save the enormous expense of two miles of cast-iron pipe, 
large enough, and strong enough, to carry all the water 
that will be needed in this city for all purposes, including 
tbat of running mills and machinery; nor do they see the 
necessity of being at the perpetual cost of keeping on hand 
an engineer and head of steam to keep on an eternal press- 



172 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






ure, when, with a reservoir on a hill, one man and en- 
gine once a week, to fill the reservoir, could keej) on all 
the pressure necessary to supply every part of the city. 
But were all this apparent, is there any body that sup- 
poses it right to tax a man pay for water who does not 
use it, whether he fails to use it because he prefers rain 
water, or well water, or because he belongs to the old 
company, and has already a supply of spring water? 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

COAL AND STOXE. 



In early times there was but little coal of any kind 
used here. The blacksmiths used a little charcoal, and 
the tinners and brass-foundry men still continue its use; 
but there never was much used. The most of people, in 
old times, warmed their rooms and cooked their victuals 
with wood (of which we have always had an abundance) ; 
but as coal was also abundant, and it took less trouble to 
prepare it, the use of wood was gradually abandoned, 
first for heating rooms, and afterward for cooking. 
When the first steam mills were built, it was thought 
necessary to have wood to propel them ; but that is now 
an antiquated idea. I know no one who thinks it neces- 
sary to have wood fires for any purpose except for cook- 
ing, and but few continue to use it for that. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 1?3 

Coal is so abundant, in this neighborhood, that there 
is no danger of the supply failing in a thousand years. 
The vein is usually four feet thick, and there is generally 
slate or stone on top of it. The usual way is to dig hori- 
zontally into the hill, leaving some pillars, and putting in 
some props to protect the miners from the weight above. 
If a mine happens to have no slate or stone above, it is 
generally considered troublesome and hazardous, and is 
abandoned. The coal of the vein generally used is very 
hard, and has a hill pressing upon it, and the usual way 
of getting it out is to pick out a little of the coal at the 
bottom of the stratum, and put in a blast of powder on 
top, and this will so break it down that crow-bars and 
picks will easily do the rest. 

When it happens that there is not more than eight or 
ten feet of earth on the coal, the practice is to strip it, as 
the term is: that is, to take the earth off of a portion of 
the coal, and then make a row of holes about two or three 
feet back from the edge, drop a plug of wood into each, 
and then drive an iron wedge in each plug, by swinging a 
large hammer and striking each wedge alternatelv, until 
all are driven fully down. By this time, it will be seen 
that there is a small crack running from one wedge to 
another. Two men, with sharp-pointed crow-bars, can, 
in a few miuutes, pry all that strip off, and then repeat 
the process. 

At present, the amount of coal used in Peoria, to warm 
our houses, cook our victuals, run our mills, distilleries, 
and other numerous kinds of machinery, including the 
locomotives on all our railroads, is very considerable. 



174 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Hundreds of families get their entire support by digging- 
coal and bringing it to market. Our foreign trade in 
coal lias never been very considerable, simply because 
coal abounds in every direction, and to whatever market 
we carried it, there were others always nearer the market 
than we, who could undersell us; yet we have occasion- 
ally, from the earliest times, sent some coal to the St. 
Louis market, and since the canal and the railroads have 
been in operation, we have sent some to Chicago. 

The great abundance of coal in the vicinity of Peoria 
is not a new discovery. The United States surveyor 
who surveyed the township west of the one Peoria is in, 
in 1817, made a minute on his field-notes, that are on file 
in the Surveyor-General's office, that he crossed a vein 
of coal, in running one of the lines, ten feet thick; and 
these field-notes I copied from the original, in December, 
1833, and have the copy yet. As long ago as the 25th 
of March, 183G, I surveyed that land and saw that coal. 
It was not, however, so thick as represented. All the 
old settlers knew of the existence of coal in these hills, 
and Mr. John Bowls, as long ago as 1821, dug and took 
a boat-load of coal from this neighborhood to St. Louis 
for sale; and Joseph Moffatt, the father of the older Mof- 
fatts living below Peoria, and the grandfather of some of 
the younger ones, and the great-grandfather of the others, 
dug and took down the Mississippi, to some point below 
St. Louis, a boat-load of coal, in 1822. The greatest 
quantity of coal that has been shipped from this county 
has been taken from a place called Kingston, about six- 
teen miles below Peoria. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 175 

Our coal was said to bo inexhaustible, when it was 
thought we had but three strata of coal; but the Messrs. 
Voids & Co. have established the fact that we have five. 
In 1864, they dug an artesian well, across the lake, in 
sight of the city, in which they found two other veins of 
coal, of which we had no knowledge. From a long arti- 
cle describing this well, in the Peoria Transcript of April 
25th, 1864, I extract the following: "At 120 feet, a four- 
foot A^ein of coal was found. At 207, salt water. At 
235, another vein of coal, three feet in thickness. At 
317, a A T igorous stream of salt water, 2 -J- per cent, strength. 
At 734, another large quantity of water, containing sul- 
phur, but otherwise fresh. This last water was found in 
a porous rock, and has increased in quantity as the drill 
went down. The overflow has become so great that no 
more drilling can be done until a heavier set of tools can 
be procured. The upward rush of water is so great that 
it prevents the 400-pound drill from descending with suf- 
ficient force to effect any thing. The sand-pump, with a 
sixty-pound drill-sinker attached, will only go down about 
four hundred feeV " The water has been carried up in 
pipes sixty-five feet above the surface of the well. How 
much higher it would go there is no means of knowing 
short of getting pipe enough to run it to the top of the 
bluff. The first artesian water was struck at 317 feet, in 
a porous rock, that was 44 feet thick, and in which water 
was found all the way through. The last vein of water- 
rock is also porous, and has been penetrated forty-two 
feet. The well discharges at least 25,000 barrels of water 
per day." . . . "The total cost of the* experi- 
ment, including the loss of the old well, is $4,325." 



176 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

The digging of this well added to our geologieal 
knowledge, for the Messrs. Voris & Co. furnished the 
State Geologist with a specimen of every stratum through 
which they passed, and it proved we had more coal in Illi- 
nois than we had supposed; yet, so far as concerned the 
purse of Messrs. Voris & Co., I imagine the digging of 
this well was decidedly a depletory process. The water 
rushed out at that well boldly and noisily five years ago, 
and does it yet; but to no purpose worthy of the great 
bustle and fuss with which it breaks forth. I supposed 
it would be turned to account to run machinery ; or, on 
account of its supj>osed medicinal qualities, be the occasion 
of erecting an establishment for the resort of pleasure- 
seekers under the pretense of hunting health; but noth- 
ing of the kind has been done. The Germans some times 
have a Sunday beer-party there, and the proprietor of 
the Peoria House run a small pipe across under the lake 
to supply his hotel with the water; but whether the 
Messrs. Voris & Co. ever made any money off the spring 
is more than I know. Of one thing I am sure, it is a 
piece of property out of which money could be made ; 
not out of the coal, for that is too plenty hereabout; but 
out of that well as a mill-privilege and as mineral water. 

I am not competent to judge of the medicinal qualities 
of this water; but it smells and tastes to me like the 
water of other medicinal springs I have seen, particularly 
that of White Sulphur Springs, near Warrenton, Va. 

Although Philip Renault reported to the government 
of France, nearly 150 years ago, that there was plenty of 
copper in this neighborhood, and lead in a certain locality 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 177 



in Southeast Missouri, and his statement about the lead 
in Missouri has proved true, none of the present genera- 
tion has found any mine of copper, or any other metal, in 
this neighborhood. Besides coal, as above stated, we 
have abundance of stone in the neighborhood. It is true 
we bring our stone from Joliet, and beyond there, but 
that is mainly, I presume, because that stone is more 
easily quarried than ours, and because that is quarried 
near the canal and a railroad, whereas all our limestone 
and most of our sandstone would require from four to 
seven miles' cartage to reach our city or a railroad. We 
have a great abundance of sandstone convenient, of a 
quality well adapted to building. There being some 
stone in our quarries which, when soaked full of water, 
will disintegrate by freezing, an early prejudice was 
produced against our sandstone generally ; but every one 
used to working in stone can easily tell that which is un- 
fit to build with, and discard it. That this stone will 
stand wetting and freezing, when properly selected, is 
clearly proved by the fact that the piers of the two 
bridges across the river here are made of that kind of 
stone, and have for years endured the weather perfectly 
well. 

We have plenty of limestone within six or seven miles; 
but, because it is not convenient to a railroad, and does 
not lie in strata of equal thickness, it has not been much 
used for building. Much of it is, however, used for lime, 
and it makes a strong mortar, but is not so white as other 
kinds ; and hence, although much of it is used for walls 
and plastering, where the color is no object, yet for fine 

work we get lime from Alton or Indiana. 
23 



178 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Another circumstance that has prevented our people 
from using stone for building has been the fact that brick 
costs less. We even build cellars of brick, in stead of 
stone. The first brick made here was made by Hon. 
Samuel Hackelton, in 1833, for the court-house. Those 
brick, and the most that have been made since, have 
been of an inferior quality ; but this has not been because 
good brick can not be made of the clay in our neighbor- 
hood. It has been because the demand for brick has 
been so great that men could find sale for an inferior 
article, which cost them less expense and trouble. Be- 
sides, our people have heretofore been more concerned to 
get houses sufficient for our business than to get fine 
houses. A few experiments, however, by competent per- 
sons, have established the fact that superior brick can be 
made of our clay. 

Of late, however, some superior buildings have been 
erected in our city : some of brick and others of stone 
fronts. Some of our best brick fronts have been con- 
structed of brick made in this vicinity, while others 
have been built of brick transported from St. Louis. Our 
stone fronts, however, have all been made from stone 
brought down the canal, from Joliet, or beyond that place. 
That may, in part, be from the fact that the stone in that 
region is more easily quarried and put into proper form 
than ours; but I imagine it is more because the people 
there are prepared with the skill and tools, and habits for 
the occasion. Like the people of Michigan and Wisconsin, 
who will saw timber and carry it several hundred miles 
south and sell it at a profit, to people who have more tim- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 179 

ber than they, but who lack the mills and habits necessary 
for successfully prosecuting the lumber business. There 
is no lack of timber on the lower half of the Illinois river, 
and on the lower Mississippi and some of its branches it 
is more abundant than in the North. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



FERRIES AND BRIDGES. 



Before I came to Peoria, there had been a ferry kept 
by Mr. Sharp, a half-mile or more below- the present 
bridges; but Sharp had died, and the ferry had been dis- 
continued before I came. At the time of my arrival here, 
Bogardus run the only ferry in this neighborhood, and it 
was where the upper bridge now stands. There being 
no buildings or other obstructions in the way, the land- 
ing was some times made further up or down, according 
to the course of the wind, or the desire of the passengers, 
who wished to go up or down the river. Bogardus did 
not personally run this ferry, but some times by hired 
men, and some times he let it by the year. He, however, 
was never able to hold this ferry in peace, nor was any 
one else. It was constantly in law as long as it continued. 
Not only did opposing claimants go to law about it, but 
they occasionally did some fighting about it. 



180 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






To detail all the various controversies that were had 
about this ferry, during its existence, would be exceed- 
ingly amusing to a reader of novels, if written by one ex- 
perienced in that kind of lore; but in this plain matter- 
of-fact history, I suppose I must omit the most of those 
matters. Perhaps the indulgent reader will pardon me 
if I tell two or three anecdotes connected with that es- 
tablishment. One of the most conspicuous characters 
hereabout, in early times, was Abner Eads. He was con- 
spicuous because he was one of the '1819' men, and be- 
cause he was naturally a very enterprising, energetic 
man ; but he had been raised in the backwoods, had little 
or no education, and knew nothing about the intricacies 
of the law. On the other hand, Bogardus had been 
raised in the City of New York, and had studied law as 
a profession, but knew more about its intricacies than its 
principles. Both of these men claimed the ferry, but 
Bogardus had £ot the inside track. He had obtained 

O CD 

possession, and, being in receipt of the profits, he had 
nothing to say against the law's delays. Eads did not 
comprehend things mystical so well as things pngilistical. 
He preferred fighting to lawing, and 'walked into' the 
aforesaid Bogardus. Now it so happened, in those days, 
that a very thick kind of blanket was manufactured for 
the Mackinaw trade, called hence Mackinaw blankets, 
and it became the fashion in the Xorthwest to cut up 
these blankets for overcoats. Said Eads wore one of 
these, with great iron buttons bigger than dollars; and 
the said Bogardus, being afraid of mankind in general, 
but of said Eads in particular, carried a pair of small 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 1 8l 

pocket pistols. In the melee, Bogardus was down, and 
Eads was on top, punishing him freely, as the bruisers 
would say. Bogardus, who seemed to be 'used up ', was 
all the time getting out a pistol, which he placed against 
Eads's breast, and fired. The bystanders, who were more 
the friends of Eads than of Bogardus, and who had not 
thought it necessary to interfere until the firing of the 
pistol, were at once greatly impressed with the duty they 
owed to Christianity and civilization, at once to stop the 
fight; and Eads, who thought he was killed, and Bogar- 
dus, who thought he had killed him, were easily sepa- 
rated. Eads did not wish to receive another shot, and 
Bogardus, believing the business sufficiently done, did not 
wish to spend ammunition on ' dead ducks '. Dire confu- 
sion prevailed. But when Mr. Eads's wounds were ex- 
amined, it was found that the ball had not entered the 
skin : it had spent its whole force on one of those large 
iron buttons, and had only been able to drive it through 
the thick overcoat. 

Another. After the people in and about Peoria had 
got tired of fighting and lawing about the ferry, George 
Depree, as assignee of Isaac Underbill, seemed to be in 
the perpetual and peaceful possession of the same; and 
though he commonly had some ' hard cases ' about him, 
he still appeared to be the cock of the walk. He was a 
broad-shouldered, powerful man, with a black, fiendish 
countenance, who was, and desired to be, feared. He 
some times acted the part of a generous-hearted man, but 
his besetting sin was a desire to be feared. In the use 
of the weapons nature gave him, he was skillful and to be 



182 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

dreaded; and with a foe thus armed he was no coward. 
He, however, had a great horror of being shot. 

William L. May and Philip Latham finally set up a 
claim to the ferry, Depree preferred to ' bluff them off' 
rather than go to law. May & Latham thought it more 
their interest to drive the occupants to bring suit to test 
their rights than to sue themselves, and they determined 
to put in a ferry-boat, in defiance of Underbill's or De- 
pree's rights, and let them sue; but Depree swore they 
should neither make nor run the boat. Under such a 
threat, from such a man, there was probably but one man 
in the country that would have dared to build the boat. 
That man was John Kelsey. He was a man greatly 
skilled in * fisti-cuffs \ He was the terror of the river 
towns, and had knocked down many a man, and seemed 
desirous of picking a quarrel with any body but Depree, 
and Depree seemed anxious to fight any body but Kel- 
sey. This man Kelsey contracted with May & Latham 
to build the boat, and blood was expected to flow. But 
nothing of the kind. He built the boat, and Depree, in 
stead of fighting him, said he might build the boat, but 
that he would kill the man who should attempt to run it. 
This, some suspected, was a slight backing-down on the 
part of Depree; but, so high was his character for cour- 
age, that most people believed some one would be hurt 
when an attempt should be made to run the boat. Why 
Kelsey did not himself attempt to run it I never knew : I 
suppose, but do not know, that he had become afraid of 
Depree. William L. May, who managed the business 
for May & Latham, employed one George II. Quigg to 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 183 

run the ferry until an injunction should be obtained 
against running it, or until the charm should be broken. 
This Qui gg was a tall Irishman, with a bold, rather im- 
pudent countenance, who had a high opinion of himself, 
and was greatly desirous that the world should have an 
opinion of him equally high, especially as to the qualities 
of srallantrv and courage. Some doubts had been raised 
as to his courage, and it was predicted that Depree would 
drive him off. When he got ready to start the boat, he 
did not go as sole guard for his oarsmen, but he took with 
him a small Irishman, named McCreery, of dark complex- 
ion, and darker countenance, in which obstinacy was 
most strongly portrayed. When he had occasion to go 
about the ferry -landing, that day, he went no where, and 
did nothing, without McCreery being by his side. When 
they first made their appearance at the ferry, Depree's 
wrath knew no bounds. He swore awful oaths, and 
made bloody threats; and if the attempt had then been 
made to run the boat, he would probably have done 
something desperate. But, although McCreery said 
nothing, he looked like a viper, and walked wherever 
Quigg went, with his right hand grasping a cocked pis- 
tol, in his pocket. It was generally believed that Depree 
would shoot Quigg, and McCreery would instantly shoot 
Depree. Of this opinion no doubt Depree was, for his 
voice lowered as they were getting ready to start, and 
finally they pushed off the boat, leaving Depree, with a 
countenance as black as a western cloud, and muttering 
bitter oaths, like low distant thunder. 

After much wrangling and lawing, Mr. May got the in- 



184 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

terest of the opposing parlies into his own hands, and 
then, to prevent any future controversy, he obtained from 
the legislature a charter for a bridge at the same place, 
and raised funds to build the bridge, by selling stock, 
with the understanding that he was to have $10,000 of 
the stock, for his ferry and the charter. The bridge, with 
its abutments, is 2,600 feet long. It was commenced in 

1848, but not finished until Nov. 1, 1849, and is said to 
have cost $33,000; but neither this time nor price will be 
understood, without explanation. Before the bridge was 
completed, a large portion of it, during the high water of 

1849, fell down, and the rebuilding of it had to be de- 
layed until the abatement of the high water. Besides, 
while the bridge was still a steamboat broke the swino;- 
part off; and, because one of the piers had given away a 
little, they took it down and rebuilt it together with the 
swinging part of the bridge. Thus much delay was pro- 
duced ; but whether these expenses are included in the 
cost I do not know, but suppose they were not. A sin- 
gular piece of stupidity was exhibited on the part of the 
engineer in building said bridge, and also one on the part 
of the managers after it was built. For a considerable 
distance on the east side an embankment was erected, in 
stead of trestle-work, and the engineer made several 
sluices for the water to pass through, lest the weight of 
so much water should carry away the embankment, not 
once perceiving, what everyone ought to have perceived, 
that the weight of the water below would so far balance 
the weight of the water above as to preclude any danger 
of that kind. In time of freshet the water rushed through 



HISTORY OP PEORIA. 185 



the sluices with so great force as to threaten much dam- 
age, and they were, one by one, tilled up, and it was soon 
found that the expense of making them was lost labor. 
The embankment proved to be safer without them than 
with them. 

The other was this : the other part of the bridge, ex- 
cept the swinging part, was covered with thick green 
white-elm plank, a kind of wood that shrinks and .swells 
a great deal. At first the weather was exceedingly dry, 
and said planks drew up to their narrowest dimensions. 
Men were employed with crow-bars to work the planks 
together and make them tight. Tn doing so, wherever 
they had space enough, they put in a four-inch scantling. 
Afterward there was along spell of wet weather, and the 
plank swelled and became very tight, and the bridge be- 
gan to lean considerably to the southeast. Large props 
were obtained to prevent the bridge from falling, but the 
plank continued to swell, and forced the props into the 
ground, until all that part which was built on trestle- 
work fell into the water; and during all the time those 
having charge of the bridge could not see why it was 
falling. 

This was built for a toll bridge, and has to this day, by 
a kind of common consent, its charter having expired, 
been continued as such; and has been of immense bene- 
fit both to the public at large and to the City of Peoria 
in particular. 

The other bridge, immediately below, belongs to the 
Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway Company. It is well 
calculated for crossing over railroad trains, but not for any 
other kind of conveyance. 
24 



186 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Two things concerning the building of these bridges 
are worthy of remark: 1st, The piers are built of the 
common sandstone of the Kickapoo valley, which many 
predicted would crumble and fall to pieces; but experi- 
ence has shown there is no danger of this, provided the 
better quality of sandstone be used. Xor were these 
piers built of solid blocks of stone fitted together. An 
outside ring was dressed and fitted together, and 
laid in hydraulic-cement mortar, and then stone of the 
same kind, but of any form, were placed in this ring un- 
til it was level full, and then thin mortar, made of hy- 
draulic cement, was poured in until all the spaces among 
these stones were filled; and soon, in like manner, an- 
other ring was added, until the pier Avas of the requisite 
hight, 2d, These piers were built upon the ground, 
upon the smooth river-bottom, and many supposed they 
would sink of their own weight, or the current would 
carry away the mud and sand on which they were placed 
and upset them. Soon after the first bridge was built, 
one of the piers began to lean a little, and was taken 
down and rebuilt. Excepting that, they have all stood 
firmly. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 187 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 



The first newspaper published in Peoria was a weekly, 
called the Illinois Champion. Its first issue was on the 
10th of March, 1834, by Abram S. Buxton and Henry 
Wolford. It commenced as a neutral sheet in politics ; 
but its editor, Mr. Buxton, being a decided Whig, soon 
threw off his neutrality, and came out boldly in defense 
of the principles of his party. Mr. Buxton had been a 
partner of the celebrated George D. Prentice, in the 
publication of the Louisville Journal. Mr. Wolford was 
a practical printer, and Buxton a ready writer, as well as 
printer, and the paper was commenced under the most 
favorable auspices. But Mr. Wolford, for some reason 
not now recollected, returned to Louisville, in a short 
time, and has never been back to Peoria, to my recollec- 
tion. Mr. Buxton fell a victim to that monster destroyer, 
the consumption. The press and types fell into the hands 
of Mr. James C. Armstrong and Jacob D. Shewalter, 
who employed Jerome L. Marsh to carry on the estab- 
lishment. 

In the spring of 1837, Samuel H. Davis, who had pub- 
lished the Winchester Republican, in Virginia, and had 
also published some paper, not now remembered, in 
Wheeling, Virginia, came to Peoria, and commenced a 



188 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

paper called the Peoria Register and Northwestern Ga- 
zetteer, the first number of which was issued on the 7th 
of April, 1837. Mr. Davis, like Mr. Buxton, attempted 
to publish a neutral paper ; but he, being a decided Whig 
in politics, as soon as a Democratic paper made its ap- 
pearance in the place, came out a Whig, and as long as 
he continued to publish it that paper was a strong advo- 
cate of Whig principles. 

In 1842, the Messrs. Butler succeeded Mr. Davis, and, 
if I remember right, dropped the latter part of the name, 
and simply called the paper the Peoria Register. They 
published said paper about a year, and then it went into 
the hands of Thomas J. Pickett (the same who was some 
time colonel of a volunteer regiment, during the war of 
the Rebellion, and is now postmaster at Paducah, Ky.) 
Mr. Pickett published said paper until the 26th day of 
January, 1850. Previous to this date he took into part- 
nership Mr. H. K. W. Davis, a son of Samuel II. Davis, 
who had formerly published the paper, and they had just 
commenced, in addition to the Weekly Register, a daily 
called the Champion. They occupied the second story 
of a brick building on Main street, between Washington 
and Water streets, that had been built and occupied by 
Mr. S. H. Davis, on an alley which Mr. Davis named 
Printers' Alley. The foundation was of sandstone, badly 
built. The inside of the cellar-wall was well enough 
built, but the side next the alley was filled up with 
spawls of stone, with little or no mortar; and, to make 
it worse, the brick wall, above ground, in stead of being 
placed over the better part of the stone wall, was placed 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 189 

over the worse part, and the brick was even extended 
beyond this. The joists were placed crosswise parallel 
with Main street, and would, under ordinary circumstan- 
ces, have held the building together; but the printers 
had weighted down the weaker side of the house, with a 
heavy cast-iron printing-press. The first story of the 
front of the building was what is called an open front. 
In stead of iron columns or pilasters, as is now the fash- 
ion, square timbers were used, which were framed to a 
plate, on which the wall stood. This wall, the weight of 
which was sufficient to hold the first story firm, while 
perpendicular, would naturally hasten its fall as soon as 
it was sprang out of a perpendicular position. The first 
story and cellar had been occupied by William A. Her- 
ron, as a drug store. He also dealt in paints, oils, var- 
nish, etc. At the above date he had removed the most 
of his goods to a new store he had just built, at the cor- 
ner of Main and Washington streets. It is said he had 
left in the cellar much straw and other combustible rub- 
bish, used in packing up goods, and also some kind of 
exceedingly combustible liquid. The second story was 
used by the printers, and the back part of the building 
and the third story were occupied by a Mr. Decker as a 
sort of temperance tavern or boarding-house. A light 
was seen to glare up in the cellar, and almost instantly 
an explosion was heard in the cellar, of such force as to 
drive out into Main street the front timber work. Almost 
instantly the front on the southeast or alley side came 
down into the alley. There was no one in the front 
building at the time (it being Saturday evening) except 



190 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

William Pickett, the clerk of the establishment and 
brother of the proprietor, Colonel T. J. Pickett, and Mr. 
1ST. C. JSTason, who was an employe of the office. Although 
this explosion and fall were the work of a moment, they 
gave time enough for these men to have made their escape 
by an outside stairway ; but, after they had run down the 
stairway, Mr. Pickett said "I will save the books," and 
stepped back. He was not afterward seen alive, and Mr. 
Xason barely escaped being covered with the brick and 
rubbish of the falling house. I was on the ground im- 
mediately after the fall, and was shown a large pile of 
bricks, under which Mr. Pickett had been heard to groan. 
We attempted to remove them, but the burning paper 
and combustible part of the house soon drove us away. 
After the fire had been quenched by the engines, he was 
found to be dead. 

At the same time that we were digging for Mr. Pickett, 
it was said that, at the moment of the explosion, Mr. 
James Kirkpatrick, who published a paper, called the 
Peoria American, on the other side of the square, attempt- 
ed to run through the alley, and was supposed to be 
buried some where beneath the rubbish. After the fire 
had abated, this was found to be true. At the first sound 
of the fire, Mr. Bearce, a son-in-law of Mr. Decker, who 
was in the second story of the back building, ran into the 
main building to see what was the matter, or perhaps to 
warn the printers of their danger, and had just time to 
save himself, by jumping from a floor that was falling 
upon one that did not fall. The back building did not 
fall, nor become entirely destroyed by the fire, though 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 191 

both it .and the furniture were much damaged. On the 
next day (Sunday) a great crowd attended the burial of 
Mr. Pickett and Mr. Kirkpatrick. 

On the 20th of February, 1840, John S. Zeiber, who 
had published the People's Press, in the town of Princess 
Ann, Somerset County, Md., commenced the publication 
of the Democratic Press, which he continued to publish 
until about the 1st of June, 1846. His establishment was 
then purchased by Thomas Phillips, who had formerly 
published a paper at Pittsburg, called the American 
Manufacturer. After Mr. Phillips had published said 
paper about three years, he sold out to Washington 
Cockle. This paper was continued by Mr. Washington 
Cockle until the fall of 1851, when he sold the establish- 
ment to Mr. Enoch P. Sloan, who conducted it until the 
fall of 1856, when he sold it to Mr. Corn well, who pub- 
lished the paper a while, and then sold out to Mr. G. W. 
Raney, who had previously commenced a competing 
paper called the Peoria Daily News. Mr. Raney, some 
time in the winter of 1857— '8, had the good fortune or 
misfortune, I know not which, of getting this whole es- 
tablishment burnt. For the last two years that Mr. Sloan 
published that paper, he published it weekly, tri-weekly, 
and daily. 

The first daily paper attempted in Peoria was by 
Messrs. Pickett & Woodcock, on the 28th of June, 1848. 
The paper was, however, not sustained, and only contin- 
ued to be published about three months. 

Other efforts were made, from time to time, to establish 
papers in the English language, by Messrs. T. J. Pickett, 



192 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

H. K. "W. Davis, D. D. Irons, G. AY. Raney, and others, 
the history of which I can not state from recollection, 
and none of them have furnished me with the data to 
give it. It is worthy of record that, though in early 
times we had no German papers, yet for a number of 
years we have had two, all the time — one in the interest 
of each political party. 

At present the following political papers are published 
in this city : 

1st, The Peoria Transcript, published daily, tri- weekly, 
and weekly, by the Transcript Company. 

2d, The Peoria Democrat, published daily, tri-weekly, 
and weekly, by "W". T. Dowdall. 

3d, The Peoria Review, just started by a joint-stock 
company, and published daily, tri-weekly, and weekly. 
This company has a capital stock of 810,000. 

4th, The Peoria Deutsche Zeitung, published by Mr. 
Fresenius. 

5th, The Peoria Deutsche Demokrat, published by 
Bernard Cremer. 

In addition to all these, Mr. N. C. Xason publishes the 
Illinois Teacher, a monthly octavo pamphlet, devoted to 
the cause of education. I have before me No. 1 of Vol- 
ume XVI, this being the sixteenth year of its existence. 

He also publishes The Memento, a small quarto, pub- 
lished monthly, and devoted to the cause of Odd-Fellow- 
ship. This was commenced in 1854, but it was suspend- 
ed during the war. 

Two of the above offices, to wit, the Transcript and 
Democrat, are prepared to do, on an extensive scale, all 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 193 

kinds of job printing, and book-binding. Besides these, 
we have three job offices, at which books, pamphlets and 
bills are printed, by Mr. Nason, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Foster, 
but from which no newspapers are issued. We have, 
also, two other regular book-binderies here, belonging to 
Mr. Foster and Mr. Roberts, besides those connected with 
the Transcript and the Democrat offices. 

The paper to supply these establishments, until recent- 
ly, has all been brought from abroad; our city, till re- 
cently, not being able to supply herself with any part of 
that necessary article. We now, however, have a paper- 
mill which supplies a large amount of wrapping paper 
and some printing paper. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE FRENCH CLAIMS CONTROVERSY. 

For many years a controversy existed between the 
citizens of Peoria and certain speculators. That contro- 
versy originated as follows : 

There had never been any survey of the French vil- 
lage, nor did they claim title under any government, but 
were mere squatters, claiming under an act of Congress, 
approved May 15, 1820, entitled "An act for the relief of 
the inhabitants of the Village of Peoria, in the State of 
25 



194 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Illinois," and another act of Congress, approved March 3, 
1823, entitled "An act to confirm certain claims to lots 
in the Village of Peoria, in the State of Illinois," and the 
report of the Register of the land-office at Eclwardsville,* 
and a survey that was long after made by Joseph C. Brown , 
a deputy from the Surveyor General's office at St. Louis ; 
and some times also they claimed under a patent from the 
United States, issued in pursuance of those laws. For, 
although the law neither gave the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury nor any one else the power to adjudicate between 
the claimaints and say who, if any, were entitled to pat- 
ents; yet the Secretary of War did undertake that ardu- 
ous task, and did issue patents to some, and refuse them 
to others. The land between the Illinois and Mississippi 
rivers was surveyed to be given to the soldiers of the 
Avar of 1812, as bounties, and this survey was made, and 
patents were granted to the soldiers, before either of 
those laws were passed, or said French survey was made ; 
but no fractional sections were granted to the soldiers, 
and all those lying along the river were fractional and 
therefore not granted, and were liable to be preempted, 
under the preemption laws of 1830, 1832, and 1834. 

When a preemption was claimed to any particular 
piece of land, and the proper proofs of improvements and 
residence were made before the register and receiver, 
they had no option. The law required them to let the 
entry be made, because, whatever opinion they may 
have had as to the validity of those French claims, there 
was nothing in their office showing any conflict between 

* See Chapter VI, page 21. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 195 

any French claim and the land proposed to be entered. 
Although, when the United States surveys, in 1817 and 
1818, were made, so soon after the French had left, their 
lots might have been connected with the public surveys, 
yet, as the place was entirely abandoned by the French, 
and the Americans had not yet found their way here, it 
was not done. And when the French laid in their claims 
before the register and receiver at Edwardsville, they 
probably did not know that said survey had been made. 
At least, the register in his report says " I have not been 
able to ascertain, with precision, upon what particular 
quarter-sections of the military surveys these claims are 
situated." — 3d Am. St. Papers^ page 422. 

All the lands on which any of these French claims were 
located, by Brown, had been disposed of by the govern- 
ment to other parties, the money paid, and patents issued, 
and the land possessed and occupied long enough for the 
statutes of limitation to protect them, were their titles 
bad. Under these circumstances, and since the excite- 
ment of the day had passed away, the reader will won- 
der how any controversy could have been gotten up suf- 
ficient to interfere with the repose of our society. But, 
strange as it may seem, a controversy was gotten up, 
which lasted about twenty years, in which the author 
spent many thousand dollars and much precious time; 
but those controversies are all happily settled, and we 
can say to the world buy and build without fear, for our 
titles are as good now as those of any other city. 

This is not the place to discuss the merits of those con- 
troversies : suffice it to say that man is a gregarious ani- 



196 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



mal, not only physically, but mentally. Men are not 
only inclined to move in masses, but to be affected in 
masses, as by an influenza. Some times men are gener- 
ally taken with a religious monomania; some times with 
apolitical one; some times with patent-right invention 
mania; and some times with a gold-mine mania. On 
this occasion they were taken with a French-claim mania. 
Men generally believed that every man professing to hold 
a French claim ought to succeed against any one else 
although his claim may have been decided against by 
government, and he lacked proof to connect him with the 
original claimant; and although the defendant may 
have had a patent from the United States, and been in 
actual possession by residence, for any length of time. 
The first suits were brought in the state court, and were 
all successful ; but a half-dozen of them were taken to 
the Supreme Court of Illinois, and all reversed. This 
closed the state courts as to this sort of business. Some 
suits in the state court were dismissed, and then brought 
in the United States Circuit Court. A great many new 
ones were commenced there, and resulted as the others 
had done, and were carried to the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Here, although the law was not always 
laid down correctly, enough principles were settled ad- 
versely to the plaintiffs to prevent them from bringing 
any more suits any where. 

This mania, for a few years, was astonishingly great. 
It pervaded the country generally : it found its way into 
the jury-box, the bar, and even to the bench. I have 
known honest jurors to find verdicts against evidence, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 197 

and honest judges to overrule the plainest principles of 
law that have been established since the days of Lord 
Coke, to aid the speculators in these controversies. I 
have known a certain speculator in those days to take 
a surveyor and survey about block 34 (to which he had 
no more title than the king of Dahomey), and look wise, 
and say nothing, while all the inhabitants of that block 
were running out and begging him not to dispossess 
them, promising submission, and agreeing to pay what- 
ever he said they should. He haughtily replied, "if they 
had any business with him to call at his hotel." So they 
did, and he presented them a paper containing a requisi- 
tion on each of them for an arbitrary sum, such as he 
thought they could be scared into, and they all, ' every 
mother's son of them', paid the sum set opposite their 
names, and thought him a generous-hearted gentleman 
for exacting no more. 

In those days, the best men in the community, without 
knowing any thing of the merits of the controversy, pitied 
me if they were my friends, and hated me if they were 
my enemies, for what they supposed to be an obstinate 
and mulish disjDOsition. If I am not mistaken with re- 
gard to public sentin\ent at this time, it has entirely 
changed on that subject. I have been as much flattered 
and caressed of late, on account of my success, as I once 
was pitied and contemned for my supposed obstinacy. I 
hope I have borne both with equanimity. 

The quantity of ground in dispute was never so great 
as the number of suits brought, or the number of claims 
filed in the land-office, would seem to indicate. The 



198 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






property was cut up and many more suits brought than 
necessary, to prevent writs of error to the Supreme Court 
of the United States ; as the land in controversy must 
be worth $2,000 to give that court jurisdiction. Although 
the number of claims filed in the land-office was 70, it 
should be remembered, — 

1 st, There were not so many claimants, for each claimant 
generally claimed more than one lot, some times several. 

2d, There were not as many pieces of ground claimed 
as there were claims, for it often happened that two, un- 
der different numbers, claimed the same ground. 

3d, A portion of them were located at the old village, 
which had been voluntarily abandoned long before the 
war, and were not valid claims, under the law, as the Su- 
prerae Court of the United States decided in the case of 
Hall vs. Papin, 24 Howard, 132. 

4th, As the said court decided in the same case, said 
law " applies only to the new town, and the land in ques- 
tion is an outlot or field of ten acres, near the old Village 
of Peoria." 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 199 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

POPULATION AT DIFFERENT TIMES. 

The first census of Illinois was taken in 1810, when 
the whole population, including a few blacks, but no In- 
dians, was 12,450. In 1820, it was 55,128. In 1830, it 
was 158,232. In 1840, it was 471,515. In 1850, it was 
876,038: males, 445,544; females, 400,490; excess of 
males, 45,054. 

The population of Peoria county for the first four quin- 
quennial censuses was as follows : 

1825, by Bogardus 1236; 

1830, by Isaac Waters 1792; 

1835, by William Compiler 3199; 

1840, by A. W. Harkness 7041 . 

The census taken by Bogardus included all the country 
then attached to Peoria — Chicago, Galena, etc.; but the 
other three included Peoria county as it now exists. 
Why the county was at the expense of taking the census 
in 1830 and 1840 is not apparent, for in those years the 
general government took the census of the whole United 
States, which, when taken, was at the service of every 
one. 

Some idea may be formed of the advance of population 
from 1826 to 1843, inclusive, from the following table of 
the votes cast in Peoria county in those years : 



200 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



1826, in August 184 1834, in August 223 

1827, " " IV 1835," " 283 

1828," " 65 | 1836, " " 294 

1830," " 53 I 1837, " " 329 

1831," " 100 1 1838, " " 490 

1832," " 141:1839." " 1042 

The tables from which the above is taken were profess- 
edly deficient as to the years 3 829 and 1833, and hence 
I omit them; and I suppose they are deficient as to the 
years 1827, 1828, and 1830. In ascertaining the number 
of population from the number of votes, it is usual to 
multiply by five; but this rule is not reliable, for A T oters 
frequently mil to go to elections. Although at the Con- 
gressional election in August, 1836, the vote was 294, yet 
at the Presidential election in November of the same year 
the vote Avas 531. 

In January, 1844, Mr. Drown, under the authority (as 
I suppose) of the Board of Trustees of the Town of 
Peoria, took the census of said town, and reported the 
same at 1619. 

I suspect the above is an overestimate, for he was 
always thought to be inclined to overestimate the popu- 
lation of our city, as was proved by the census he took 
in 1850, when Hon. H. S. Austin, employed by the Gen- 
eral Government, took it the same year, and made it out 
much less. In fact, there is always so great a difference 
between the reports of different persons employed to take 
any census, that we can only approximate at the truth. 

The following table shows the number of voters in the 
City of Peoria in the years. 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 
and 1850 (provided, at the adoption of the present consti- 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



201 



tution, in 1848, they were actual residents, and if they 
have come in since, they have become naturalized), and 
the state or country in which they were born. Any table 
of votes actually given in those years will show a less 
number, for there are usually some who neglect to attend 
elections. 



1845 

New York 111. 

Pennsylvania.... 99. 

Ohio 46. 

Massachusetts ... 52. 

Virginia 31. 

Kentucky 18. 

Connecticut 12. 

Maryland 18. 

1 New Hampshire. 23. 

\ New Jersey 10. 

"A Vermont 15 . 



Tennessee 

Indiana 

Maine 

Dist. Columbia 

Illinois , 

Rhode Island . . , 

Delaware 

North Carolina 

Georgia 

South Carolina . , 

Louisiana 

Missouri , 

Wisconsin 

Alabama , 



Germany 88 



( \i.rr led fo rw\J. 546 
26 



1S46 
135. 
118. 
68. 
61. 
45. 
21. 
23. 
25. 
18. 

9. 
18. 

2. 
12. 

9. 

3. 

2 

3. 
3. 
2. 
1. 
0. 
0. 
1. 
1. 
0. 
61. 

641 



1847 


1S4S 


. 158.. 


218. . 


. 141. 


161.. 


. 89. 


114.. 


. 6Q. 


73.. 


. 42 . . 


68.. 


. 26. 


38.. 


. 26. 


34.. 


. 30. 


33.. 


. 19. 


29.. 


. 11. 


21. . 


. 11. 


19.. 


8. 


IT. . 


. 13. 


15.. 


6. 


8. . 


2. 


8.. 


8. 


/ . . 




5 . . 


1.. 


5 . . 


5 . . 


4.. 


1.. 


o 
O . . 


2 . 


2 . , 


0.. 


2. . 


1. 


1.. 


1.. 


1.. 


0. 


1.. 


. 106.. 


163.. 



1S40 


18.-0 


222 . . 


204 


170. 


159 


123. 


119 


VS. 


63 


57. 


46 


39. 


35 


30. 


28 


34. 


35 


27. 


25 


17. 


13 


18. 


16 


14. 


11 


15. 


16 


8. 


8 




5 


11. 


16 


4. 


2 


4.. 


4 


4.. 


4 


2.. 


2 


1.. 


1 


0. 





2 . , 


3 


1. . 


2 


1.. 





171.. 


197 



777 1050 1060 1014 



202 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



1S45 

Brett forvfd. . . 546. 

Ireland 4r 

England 33 

Scotland 1 

Canada 1 

France 12 

Switzerland 1 

Wales 1 

Norway 

Prussia 

Nova Scotia 

Italy 



1S46 


1S47 


1S48 


1848 


1850 


641.. 


777. 


.1050. 


.1060. 


.1014 


52.. 


61. 


. 93. 


. 125. 


. 150 


43.. 


57. 


. 67. 


. 79. 


. 87 


8. 


8. 


. 17. 


. 23. 


. 27 


4. 


5 . 


. 12. 


8. 


4 


10. 


16. 


. 11. 


. 12. 


. 14 


1. 


5 . 


6. 


8. 


. 10 


2. 


4. 


3. 


4. 


5 


2. 


3. 


2. 


2. 


1 


0. 


1. 


2 . 


2. 


2 


3. 


1. 


0. 


0. 





0. 


0. 


1. 


1. 


1 


706. 


938. 


.1294. 


.1324. 


.1315 



Total 642 

In June, 1855, the County Commissioners' Court em- 
ployed Mr. Drown to take the census of the county, and 
in November he made a report of his work; and, as he 
had been censured before for too inflated a report, he took 
the precaution to make them spread on their record a 
vote of approval of this report. I extract from it the 
following: 



CITY OF TEOKIA. 

Males under 10 years of age 1776 

Males from 10 to 20 years of age 1177 

1806 

1030 

416 

172 

70 

24 

1 



it 


20 to 30 


it 


a 


it 


30 to 40 


it 


a 


it 


40 to 50 


it 


a 


a 


50 to 60 


a 


u 


u 


60 to 70 


a 


a 


it 


70 to 80 


u 


a 


u 


80 to 90 


a 


it 



Males 90 years of age and over 

Females under 10 years of age 1771 



COUNTY. 

3568 

3427 

3632 

2203 

1156 

586 

265 

77 

10 



4458 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 203 



Females from 10 to 20 years of age 1368 3343 

" 20 to 30 " " " 1498 2981 

" 30 to 40 " " 292 1605 

" 40 to 50 " « 204 888 

" 50 to 60 " " 148 432 

" 60 to 70 " « 79 223 

" 70 to 80 " " 22 65 

" 80 to 90 " " 4 13 

Females over 90 years of age 1 

He also reported that, exclusive of these, who were 
white people, there were in the city 44 colored males, 
and 58 colored females, and in the whole county there 
were 49 colored males, and 59 colored females. 

An approximate opinion of the increase of population 
may be formed from the votes given at different times 
for public offices : 

In 1862, the vote of Peoria Co. on Treasurer was. . .5821 
In 1864, the vote of Peoria Co. on President was. . .7275 
In 1866, the vote of Peoria Co. on Cong'sman was. .7354 
In 1868, the vote of Peoria Co. on President was. . .8464 
In 1869, the vote of Peoria Co. on Co. Judge was. .6338 
At the same time the vote on Co. Clerk was 6383 

In the last above election the vote was not full. The 
Democrats manifestly did not all vote, or they would 
have defeated the two successful candidates (Judge Yates 
and Colonel McClure). These gentlemen are Republic- 
ans and were elected, while it is well known that the 
Democrats have a majority in the county. I suppose 
Peoria county could now give 10,000 votes. 

In 1864, W". E. Robinson, in the employ of the City of 



204 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Peoria, took the census of the city, and made return as 

follows : 

Males over 21 years of age 4164 

Females over 21 years of age 4153 

Males under 21 years of age 4266 

Females under 21 years of age 4644 

With this the Board of Aldermen were dissatisfied, 
believing he had missed a good many, and afterward, on 
that account, they declined to employ him again in that 
service. In 1808 they employed John C. Mulvihill in 
that service, and he reported the whole number at 21,829. 
This was thought to be worse than the other, it being the 
opinion of the city fathers that we had a much greater 
population than this. 

The following table will show the population of Peoria 
from 1844 to 1849, inclusive: 

lNDEn20 OVER 20 

UAJJS - YBS.OFAGB. YKS. OF AGE. *viai*. 

Jan'ry 1st, 1844 805 814 1619 

" 1845 972 962 1934 

" 1846 1136 1256 2392 

" 1847 1522 1492 3U14 

" 1848 2327 1752 4079 

March 1st, 1849 2622 2439 5061 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 205 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY. 

Ox the 4th of July, 1SG7, a preliminary meeting was 
had in Peoria, to organize an Old Settlers' Society. A 
committee was appointed to draft a constitution, etc., and 
finally, at a meeting held on the 27th of said month, a 
constitution was adopted, and officers were elected — in 
short, all the usual steps were taken to organize said so- 
ciety. 

Hon. John Hamlin was elected President for one year ; 

Col. Charles Ballance was elected Vice-Pres't; and 

George W. H. Gilbert was elected Secretary. 

The design that none should be registered as members 
but those who had lived in Peoria, or its immediate vicin- 
ity, for more than thirty years, was not fully carried out; 
for, the thing becoming popular, many sought to join who 
by no means came within the spirit and meaning of the 
constitution; and, as a considerable degree of liberality 
of feeling prevailed, a number were permitted to be en- 
rolled who had not the proper residence nor length of 
time. In the following list those who came into the place 
since 1836 are omitted, but some are retained who never 
lived in the city at all, and others who have long since 
removed away. About half of the following, however, 
now live within the bounds of the city : 



206 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






MEMBERS. 



WHEN* RESIDENCE 
COMMENCED. 



John Hamlin Nov 

C. Ballance Xot 

Samuel B. King Sept 

John Waugli June 

Jacob Hepperly March 

Edward F. Rowland Jau 

John C. Flanagan May 

John T. Lindsay July 

John Todhunter June 

Samuel Tart Sept 

Matthew Taggart Nov. 18 

Thomas Mooney, jr Oct 

Edward D. Shutts Oct. 4 

Peter Sweat Dec. 24 

Jacob Tapping Dec. 1 

Jacob Darst June 20 

Frederick Miiller June 10 

Robert Boal June 4 

John H. Lisk Sept 

John Leadley Oct 

George C. Bestor An 

Iiudolphus Rouse Aug 

Isaac Underbill Dec. 25 

John Hines Nov. 3 

William A. Hall ,Xov. 6 

Aquilla Moffatt June 2 

John Feilkil Aug 

Josiah Fulton April 

William Blanchard May 



1819. 
1831. 
1831. 
1836. 
1831. 
1835. 
1834. 
1836. 
1834. 
1834. 
1835. 
1835. 
1836. 
1833. 
1836. 
1835. 
1836. 
1886, 
1835. 
1836. 
1835. 
1832. 
1833. 
1836. 
1833. 
1S22. 
1836. 
1819. 
1819. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 207 

wpvt!t-b« WHEN- RESIDENCE 

MEMEEBS. COMMENCED. 

John Sharp Oct, 1824. 

John W. Caldwell Oct. 3, 1830. 

John Whitby Oct. 1835. 

Daniel Corbet Oct. 1835. 

George Greenwood Oct, 9, 1835. 

Kelson L. Woodruff Nov. 16, 1835. 

W. H. Ellis Oct. 1836. 

George Gilnllen 1836. 

George W. Schnebly Nov. 1835. 

Thomas P. Smith Nov. 1834. 

William Stillwell June, 1836. 

John C. Schnebly Nov. 1835. 

Nathaniel Robinson Oct. 19, 1835. 

J. H. Schnebly Nov. 10, 1835. 

George Ford May, 1835. 

Griffith Dickinson April, 1835. 

James H. McCall May 10, 1835. 

H. W. Partridge June, 1836. 

Alexander Caldwell Dec. 1827. 

J. S. Hornbaker Oct, 1830. 

E. C. Root Oct. 1830. 

Amos Stevens July? 1833. 

Alvah Moffatt June 10, 1822. 



'? 



Lorin Wilder Oct, 27, 1836. 



Alexander 31. King Sept. 1831. 

Longworth Armstrong Oct. 1836. 

Chauncey C. Wood Sept. 1836. 

Henry W. Jones Nov. 1, 1831. 

John A. McCoy Dec. 28, 1836. 



208 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

MF , rEFRS WHEX RESIDENCE 

MEMBERS. COMMENCED. 

John Benson May, 1834. 

Edward C. Benson May, 1834. 

Ebenezer Stowell June, 1836. 

Lewis Howell May, 1836. 

William Reynolds Nov. 1836. 

Peter AY. Hawley July, 1835. 

William C. H. Barton Dec. 23, 1325. 

Perry Frazer July, 1834. 

P. C. Reding June, 1822. 

Auren Garrett Aug. 1833, 

Daniel Trail May 4, 1834. 

CM. Frazer July, 1834. 

ElihuK Powell March, 1836. 

Alva Dunlap May, 1834. 

Lyman J. Loomis Aug. 1834. 

George W. Fash June, 1835. 

Augustine Greenwood Aug. 16, 1836. 

William E. Mason Aug. 19, 1834. 

J. T. Stewart Born in 111. June 20, 1824. 

John E. Bristol Oct 19, 1830. 

Moses Clifton Oct. 1826. 

L. II. Armstrong Nov. 1 836. 

B. L. T. Bourland June, 1834. 

Peter Frye Nov. 1834. 

John J. Rankle Oct. 1833. 

Imri W. Case Oct. 3, 1836. 

Johnson S. Adams March, 1831. 

James F. Murden June 15, 1835. 

James Monroe Sept. 5, 1836. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 209 



pleasure of the society; especially on the Fourth of July, 
our national birth-day. On the fourth of July, 1868, we 
had a sumptuous feast, and a number of speeches, in the 
shade of Flanagan's Grove, for the members and their 
families, and some invited guests. 

On the fourth of July, 1869, preparations Avere made 
for even a more sumptuous feast, for a larger crowd, and 
the kindest of feelings prevailed ; but our hilarity was 
much checked by a rain-storm that broke into the midst 
of it. 

The same officers were reelected at both of said meet- 
ings, and officiate in said offices yet. 

The above are nearly all old men; and yet, since this 
society was formed (two years and a half), only one of 
its members has died, to wit, Hon. Peter Sweat. He 
was a native of New Hampshire, but had lived the last 
half of his life in Peoria. The most of the time he dealt 
in dry goods or groceries (I believe at one time in both), 
but for a few years he had turned his attention to culti- 
vating grapes and other fruit. His integrity as a busi- 
ness man I never heard questioned. He appeared to be 
a man of moderate talents; yet he must have possessed 
a considerable amount of shrewdness, for he was for a 
long time a ruling spirit in the democratic party, and was 
by it frequently elected to office. At one time he served 
a term of four years in the State Senate. 

27 



210 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



COMMERCE OF PEORIA. 



In French times there was no commerce at Peoria, ex- 
cept the barter of a few articles of Indian goods, such as 
blankets, beads, tomahawks, powder, lead, guns and 
butcher-knives, for peltries, such as deer, beaver, otter, 
mink and muskrat skins. Immediately before the War 
of 1812 this business was carried on mainly by a Mr. 
Michael Lacroix, who never returned to reside here after 
the war. He was born in Canada, removed to Peoria in 
1800, went back to Canada at the commencement of the 
war, accepted a commission in the British army, after 
the war brought a stock of goods to St. Louis, and, in 
1821, died over in Cahokia. 

From 1812 to 1818 there were no white people at Peo- 
ria, not even a straggling trader. But in 1818, as is set 
forth in Chap. X, page 43, the American Fur Company 
sent goods into the place, and they continued to do so for 
ten or twelve years, as our neighbor Hon. John Hamlin, 
who was at one time in their employment, can testify. 
In 1831 trade was at its lowest ebb in Peoria. By the 
destruction of the peltries, partly by the combined efforts 
of white and red hunters, but mainly by the deep snow 
and sleet of 1830-'31, the Indians had become too poor 
to buy goods, and the few Avhite people in the country 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 211 

had brought no money with them, and had not had time 
to raise any thing to sell; and what made it worse was, 
the first settlers avoided the prairies, in which they might 
have had something to sell much sooner. John Hamlin 
and Henry B. Stillman had a few goods, but fewer cus- 
tomers. In 1832 flour was shipped from St. Louis to Peo- 
ria to be eaten, and corn to be planted. 

Times were exceedingly discouraging; but it did 
seem to me that so much rich land would before long fur- 
nish a rich harvest for some enterprising traders. I had 
known, in Kentucky, Messrs. F. & A. Voris, who then 
had a small store in Salem, Indiana, and, knowing that 
Francis was a smart trader in things generally, and that 
Abram was a good merchant, I informed them of the ad- 
vantages of the place. Mr. Francis Voris came on, and 
I rode around with him to show him the country. We 
visited Pekin, Hennepin, and Ottawa. He was pleased 
with the country generally, and with Peoria in particu- 
lar, and they immediately removed their store to Peoria. 
They at once became, and for years were, the prin- 
cipal merchants. Not but that there were other mer- 
chants of high respectability, who soon after came in, and 
helped to build up the place, such as Andrew Gray, 
Samuel Lowry, Moses Pettengill, Amos P. Bartlett, Rey- 
nolds & Smith, etc., etc., but the Messrs. Voris adapted 
their business to the circumstances of the country. They 
bought the produce of the country, and gave our carpen- 
ters and laborers employment in building flat-boats, on 
our wharf, to ship the produce to market. 

In 1835 Mr. Abram Voris, while on his return from the 



212 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

South, with the proceeds of a cargo of pork, was cut off 
by the cholera. Soon after Mr. Samuel Voris came in 
and took the place of his brother Abram in the firm, and 
continued in it until the loth of May, 1852, when Francis 
died. Since his death the family have turned their at- 
tention to other things than merchandise. 

Mr. Pettengill was once called one of the old merchants 
of the place; but he withdrew from the business several 
years ago. There is no person who has been engaged in 
this business that deserves more credit for persistence 
than Amos P. Bartlett. He has followed the business in 
this city for about thirty-five years, and has generally 
kept a full store of good goods. He has had several 
partners. At one time he was in with Mr. Pettengill, 
but for a good while he has had for a partner his cousin, 
P. C. Bartlett. 

In speaking of pioneer merchants, I should by no 
means forget to mention Mr. John G. Bryson. He was 
put into business by the Vorises, but has been doing busi- 
ness ' on his own hook' for many years. I knew him 
when he was as poor as ' the next man', but by close at- 
tention to business, for a quarter of a century, he has 
made a fortune — much more than he needs, for he has 
not as yet fulfilled that first great commandment, " Be 
fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth"; nor is it 
in proof that he has taken any steps in that direction, at 
all commensurate with its importance. 

Nor must I from this list omit the names of William 
E. Mason, James H. AVork, James Daugherty, Charles 
W. McClallen, Alter & Howell, John McClay Smith, and 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 213 

John Reynolds, although they have all quit selling goods 
but Mr. Work, who is still in that business at Chenoa, 
and Mr. Reynolds, Mr. MeClallen and Mr. Alter are dead. 

In the first settling of any place, those who trade in 
dry goods also trade in groceries, hardware and drugs 
and often in grog also; but as population increases, the 
business becomes divided up into different branches. At 
a pretty early day John B. Burlingame undertook to deal 
in drugs and paints, on a large enough scale for the City 
of Boston, and he soon broke down. Soon after, Dr. 
James Mossman tried it, but did not succeed, because 
such were his habits that he would not have succeeded at 
any thing: a nephew of his, however, a youth he brought 
to the country, took hold of the business, and made a for- 
tune by it, and is now living at his ease, on the fruits of 
his labors in his younger days. That youth is William 
A. Herron. Among those who tried the drug and paint 
business in those early times were W. B. & H. G. Far- 
rell. They succeeded well. 

The following firms are carrying on the dry-goods busi- 
ness in Peoria now, distinct from grocery, drug or any 
other branch of trade : 



Bartlett, A. P. & P. C, 


Clarke & Co., 


Day Brothers, 


Johnston, R. & Co., 


Nusbaum, J., 


Rohrbach, L., 


Faxon, W. H. & Co., 


Bissell, 0. P., 


Beckman & Dreifuss, 


Eggleston & Snelbaker, 


Bryson, J. G., 


Miller, William, 


Miiller & Gruse, 


Seabury, S., 


Kleene, F., 


Rattle, Henry, 


Conigisky & Co., 


Eppsteiner, D., 


Xetter, H., 


Seabury, Charles & Co. 



214 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



The following firms carry on the drug business : 



Miller & Wheeler, 
Miles, Dr. B. F., - 
Simoneau & Colburn, 
Farrell, II. G., 
Fisher, Charles, 



Keen, Aug., 



Tompkins, J. B., 
Shelly, P. S. & Son, 
Davis, W. H., 
Matthies, A. L., 
Bastowj J. D., 
Martin & Kinnear. 

The grocery business has become entirely divorced 
from the dry-goods business; but there is so easy and 
regular a gradation from the greatest wholesale estab- 
lishment down to the merest apple or chicken stall, that 
it is difficult to know who should be included and who 
excluded from a list of our grocers. I send the following 
forth as the best list I can make of the principal ones : 
Thompson, S. II. & Co., Lottmann, S. T., 



Knowlton, Jesse L., 
Chapman <fc Sloan, 
Green, Louis & Co., 
Gibson & Woodbury, 
McCoy & Straut, 
Ulrich, Valentin, 
Henry, J. F. & Co., 
Lathrop, M. J., 
Burt, II. W., 
Schimpff, R. A., 
Lindsay & Dolan, 
Ellis, B. F., 
Lindsay & McCoy, 
Lehne, C. F., 
Benton, C. & Co., 
Hudson, J. A., 
Bohl & Pabst, 
Fosket, J. T., 
Lammers, G, 



Even, Enno, 
Kundinger, A. & J., 
Welte, F., 

Anderson, Augustus, 
Auer & Cutter, 
Miiller, Jacob, 
Zicgler, J., 
Burgi, P, 
Eaton, Thomas, 
Lyon, Simon, 
Pierce, C. S., 
Clark, G., 
Dewein, J. X., 
Ford, William, 
Look, L., 
Harsch Bros., 
Keichhardt, George, 
Eberle, C. F., 
Ileberer, Christian, 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 215 



Carapen & Brother, 
Kre uter, J., 
Ohl, J., 
Purtscher, A. 
Ulrich, T., 
Gorman, J. C, 
Winkelmeyer, F., 
Meyer, Charles, 
Hoffman, Ernst. 






Murphy, J. R., 
Polster, C, 
Schmitt, G., 
Schweinbold, C. S., 
Weers, H., 
Folkers, J. H., 
Weil, I. A., 
Bourke, 1ST., 
Roth, C, 

The first who attempted to divorce the hardware from 
the dry-goods business were Moses Pettengill and Jacob 
Gale. This was in 1834. They connected the tin-ware 
and stove business with it; but they had not the business 
long to themselves, before Walker & Lightner appeared 
as competitors for public patronage in that line. From 
that day to this Mr. Walker has sedulously pursued that 
business : for a long time with Hervey Lightner as a 
partner, and then with George IT. Mcllvaine; but now 
the name of the firm is Walker, Mcllvaine & McClure. 
For a long time Mr. Z. 1ST. Hotchkiss, who learned the 
business from Messrs. Walker & Lightner, has done a 
large business in this line. In addition to these, the fol- 
lowing firms are engaged in this business : Billings & 
Lloyd, M. Pfeifer & Co., Proebsting & Voigt. 

In olden times all grain shipped on the western waters 
was put into sacks, and carried on men's shoulders onto 
the steamboat, and again from the boat to the shore; 
and, if the warehouse was a little away from the water, 
drays were also used. This was very expensive, and the 
merchants of Chicago and other lake cities built lar^e 
warehouses, and machinery to raise the grain to the top, 



216 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

and then through spouts fill boats without the expense of 
sacks to contain it or men to carry it. This gave the 
lake cities so much the advantage in the matter of freights 
that much trade was turned north that naturally would 
have gone south. To remedy this, elevators have lately 
been erected at St. Louis and other places on the western 
waters. The first erected at Peoria was by the Messrs. 
Grier & Co., two or three years ago; but that not being 
deemed sufficient for the business of the place, Messrs. 
William J. Dobbins, John E. McClure and Henry Mc- 
Fadden arc building, in plain view of my house, a much 
larger one, which is nearly completed. On its front, in 
large letters, I see the words ' Central City Elevator.' 
From these, and others that will be built, as soon as they 
are proved to be necessary, I anticipate much benefit to 
our place. This city should be a great central depot for 
all the grain raised in this region, collected in the winter, 
when the roads are hard, and the farmers have leisure to 
haul it, to be distributed east, west, north, or south, as 
the exigency of trade should require. The farmer should 
bring in his grain at his convenience, take receipts, and 
keep them as money, or sell them for money, according 
to his opinion of the market, or the necessity for money. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 217 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



THE FAUNA OF PEOKIA. 






Introduction. — Xot being sufficiently versed in the 
technicality of the Fauna of Peoria and its vicinity to 
perform that duty properly, I procured Dr. F. Brendel, a 
gentleman of considerable reputation on that subject, to 
Avrite the following chapter. I would just add that the 
bear, elk, buffalo and beaver had disappeared before I 
came to Peoria. A few otter and a plenty of paroquets 
were still here, but they soon disappeared. 

There were originally three kinds of wolves here — the 
black, the gray and prairie wolf. I understand a few of 
them still remain, especially of the latter kind, but I have 
not seen one of either kind for years. 

I have never seen a black or white squirrel in Illinois. 
Even the gray squirrel, that is so plenty in Kentucky, 
Indiana, and Ohio, is scarce here. 

I never knew any i>oisonous snakes in this vicinity but 
rattlesnakes and copperheads, and the latter were always 
scarce. I never saw a rattlesnake in Peoria, but they 
were plenty within two or three miles. As soon, how- 
ever, as a place begins to be settled, hogs, dogs and men 
wage an unrelenting war upon them, and they soon dis- 
appear. 

28 



218 HISTORY OP PEORIA. 



The following list of vertebrate represents the active fauna as 
observed during the last eighteen years. It is plain that the fauna 
and flora of a newly-colonized country can not be the same as it 
was in a wild state, because, as the Indian did, so many wild ani 
mals jieldecl to civilization, and many plants to cultivation. The 
black bear, the elk, the buffalo, the beaver, retired to the west and 
north, and the swarms of paroquets, which rambled formerly in 
the woods along the river, are gone for ever. Civilization replaced 
these with its companions, the rats and mice, and one day will, as 
a substitute to the paroquet, the naturalized house-sparrow arrive 
from the east. 

The observed quadrupeds are: Two bats — the dark-brown 
Nycticejus noveboracensis, and the reddish Nycticejus lasiurus, 
and probably is there a third species, the Nycticejus pruinosus ; 
the shrew (Blarina talpoides), the prairie mole (Scalops argenta- 
tus), the wild-cat (Lynx rufus), the gray wolf (Canis occidentalis), 
the gray fox (Vulpes Yirginianus), the weasel (Putorius nove- 
boracensis), the mink (Putorius vison), the otter (Lutra Canaden- 
sis), the skunk (Mephitis mephitica), the raccoon (Procyon lotor), 
the opossum (Didelphys Yirginiana), the western fox-squirrel 
(Sciurus Ludovicianus), the gray squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis), 
which is some times black, the flying squirrel (Pteromys volucel- 
la), the chipmunk (Tamias striatals), the gray prairie-squirrel 
(Spermophilus Franklini), the striped prairie-squirrel (Spermophi- 
lus tridecimlineatus), the woodchuck (Arctomys monax), some 
times wrongly taken for a badger, the muskrat (Fiber Zibethicus), 
the gopher (Geomys bursarius), the jumping mouse (Jaculus 
Hudsonicus), the deer-mouse (Hesperourvs leucopus), the meadow 
mouse (Arvicola riparia), the gray rabbit (Lepus silvaticus), the 
deer (Cervus Yirginianus). 

The birds arc — 1. Rapacious: the turkey-buzzard (Cathartcs 
aura), the golden eagle (Aquila Canadensis), scarce — only one 
(specimen seen, the bald eagle (Haliactos leucocephalus), niosthy 
seen in a young state with brown head and tail, the fish-hawk 
(Pandion Carolinensis), the pigeon-hawk (Falco columbarius), 






HISTOKY OF PEORIA. 219 

the sparrow-hawk (Falco sparverius), Cooper's hawk (Accipiter 
Cooped), the sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter fuscns), the red-tailed 
hawk (Buteo borealis), the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatns), 
the swallow-tailed hawk (Nauclerus furcatus), the marsh hawk 
(Circus Hudsonicus), the great-horned owl (Bubo Virginianus), 
the mottled owl (Scops asio), the long-eared owl (Otus Wilsoni- 
anus), the short-eared owl (Brachyotus Cassinii), the snowy owl 
(Nyctea nivea), only in cold winters, the barred owl (Syrnium 
nebulosum). 

2. Scansores, comprising the cuckoos and woodpeckers: the 
yellow-billed and the black-billed cuckoo (Coccygus Americanus 
and erythrophthalmus). The woodpeckers are the pileated (Hy- 
latomus pileatus), the hairy (Picus villosus), the downy (Picus 
pubescens), the yellow-bellied (Sphyrapicus yarius), the red-bellied 
(Centurus Carolinus), the red-headed (Melanerpes erythrocepha- 
lus), the golden-winged (Colaptes auratus). 

3. Insessores, comprising the humming-bird (Trochilus colu- 
bris), the chimney swallow (Chaetura pelasgia), the whippoorwill 
(Antrostomus yociferus), the night-hawk (Chordeiles popetue), the 
king-fisher (Ceryle Alcyon), the king-bird (Tyrannus Carolinen- 
sis), the crested fly-catcher (Myiarchus crinitus), the pewee (Say- 
ornis fuscus), the wood-pewee (Cantopus virens), the wood-thrush 
(Turd us mustelinus), Wilson's thrush (Turd us fuscescens), the 
robin (Turdus migratorius), the blue-bird (Sialia sialis), the ruby- 
crowned and the golden-crested wren (Regulus calendula and 
satrapa), the Tit-lark (Anthus ludovicianus), the black-and-white 
creeper (Mniotilta vara), the protonotaiy warbler (Protonotaria 
citrea), the Maryland yellow-throat (Geoth^pis trichas), the Ken- 
tuck} r warbler (Oporornis formosus), the yellow-breasted chat 
(Icteria viridis), the worm-eating warbler (Helmitherus vermiyo- 
rus), the blue-winged yellow warbler (Helminthophaga pinus), the 
Tennessee warbler (Helminthophaga pcregrina), the golden- 
crowned thrush (Seiurus aurocapillus), the water thrush (Seiurus 
noveboracensis), the black-throated green warbler (Dendroica 
virens), eight other warblers of the same genus — Dendroica coro- 



220 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



- 



nata, blackburniae, castanea, pinus, coerulea, striata, a?stiva, pal- 
m:irum, — the hooded warbler (Myiodioctes mitratns), the redstart 
(Setophaga rutieilla), the scarlet tanager (Pyranga rubra), the 
summer red-bird (Pyranga a?stiva), the white-bellied swallow 
(Hirundo bicolor), the rough- winged swallow (Cotyle serripennis), 
the purple martin (Progne purpurea), the wax-wing (Ampelis 
garrulus), the cedar bird (Ampelis cedrorum), the great northern 
shrike (Collyrio borealis), the white-rumped shrike (Collyrio exeu- 
bitoroides), the red-eyed fly-catcher (Vireo olivaceus), the white- 
eyed vireo (Vireo noveboracensis), the blue-headed fry-catcher 
(Vireo solitarius), the yellow-throated fly-catcher (Vireo flavi- 
frons), the cat-bird (Mimus Carolinensis), the brown thrush (Har- 
porhynchus rufus), the house-wren (Troglodytes aedon), the win- 
ter wren (Troglodytes hymealis), the American creeper (Certhia 
Americana), the white-bellied nut-hatch (tSitta Carolinensis), the 
blue-gray fly-catcher (Polioptila coerulea), the tufted titmouse 
(Lophophanes bicolor), the black-caped titmouse (Parus atricapil- 
lus), the sky-lark (Eremophila cornuta), the evening grosbeak 
(Hesperiphona vespertina), which was observed only once, the 
purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus), the yellow-bird (Chrysomi- 
tris tristis), the lark-finch (Chondestes grammaca), the snow-bird 
(Junco hyemalis) the chipping sparrow (Spizella socialis), the 
tree-sparrow (Spizella monticola), the song sparrow (Melospiza 
melodia), the fox-colored sparrow (Passerella iliaca), the black- 
throated bunting (Euspiza Americana), the rose-breasted grosbeak 
(Guiraca ludoviciana), the indigo bird (Cyanospiza cyanea), the 
red-bird (Cardinalis Virginianus), the ground robin (Pipilo ery- 
throphthalmus), the cow-bird (Melothrus pecoris), the swamp 
black-bird (Agelaius Phamiceus), the meadow-lark (Sturnella 
magna), which is by no means a lark, but a starling, the orchard 
oriole (Icterus spurius), the Baltimore oriole (Icterus Baltimore), 
the rusty black-bird (Scolecophagus ferrugineus), the crow black- 
bird (Quiscalus versicolor), the common crow (Corvus American- 
us), the blue-jay (Cyanura cristata). 

4. Rasores : The wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratoria), the com- 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 221 



mon dove (Zenaiclura Carolinensis), the prairie hen (Cupidonia 
cnpido), the quail (Ortyx Virginiantts}, and the wild turkey (Mc- 
leagris gallopavo). 

5. Grallatores: The whooping crane (Grus Americanus), the 
sand-hill crane (Grns Canadensis), the white heron (Herodias 
egretta), the great blue heron (Ardea herodias), the least bittern 
(Ardetta exilis), the bittern (Botaurus lentiginosis), the green 
heron (Butorides yirescens), the night heron (Nyctiardea gardeni), 
the wood ibis (Tantalus loculator), the glossy ibis (Ibis Ordii), the 
golden plover (Charadrius Virginicus), the kill-deer (iEgialitis 
vociferus), the semipalmated plover (iEgialitis semipalmatus), 
Wilson's phalarope (Phalaropus Wilsonii), the woodcock (Philo- 
hela minor), the red-breasted snipe (Macrorhamphus griseus), and 
another species, the Macr. scolopaceus, the English snipe (Galli- 
nago Wilsonii), the jack snipe (Tringa maculata), the least sand- 
piper (Tringa Wilsonii), the semipalmated sandpiper (Ereunetes 
petriflcatus), the willet (Syinphemia semipalmata), the tell-tale 
(Gambetta melanolcuca), the yellow-legs (Gambetta flavipcs), the 
solitary sandpiper (Rhyacophilus solitarius), the spotted sandpiper 
(Tringoides macularius), the field plover (Actiturus bartramius), 
the great marbled godwit (Fedoa limosa), the long-billed curlew 
(Numenius longirostris), the marsh hen (Rallus elegans), the Vir- 
ginia rail (Rallus Yirginianus), the common rail (Porzana Caroli- 
na), the coot or mud-hen (Fulica Americana). 

6. Natatores: The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator), the 
white-fronted goose (Anser Gambelii), the Canada goose (Bernicla 
Canadensis), the mallard (Anas boschas), the black duck (Anas 
obscura), the pintail (Dafila acuta), the green-winged teal (Nettion 
Carolinensis), the blue-winged teal (Querquedula discors), the 
shoveler (Spatula clypeata), the gad well (Chaulelasmus streperus), 
the widgeon (Marcca Americana) the summer duck (Aix sponsaV 
the big black-head (Fulix marila), the little black-head (Fulix 
aftinis), the ring-necked duck (Fulix collaris), the red-head (Ay- 
thya Americana), the canvas-back (Aythva vallisneria), the but- 
ter-ball (Bucephala albeola), the shell drake (Mergus Americanus), 



222 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



the red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator), the hooded mer- 
ganser (Lophodytes cucullatus), the pelican (Pelecanus erythro- 
rhynchus), the double-crested cormorant (Graculus dilophus), the 
herring gull (Larus argentatus), the royal tern (Sterna regia), 
Wilson's tern (Sterna Wilsonii), the northern diver (Colymbus 
torquatus), the pied-bill grebe (Podylimbus podiceps). 

The above one hundred and seventy-six species of birds are 
partly nesting here, partly as many water-birds passengers; as 
ornitholog} 7- has never been made a special study in this place, very 
probably there might be noticed between fifty and one hundred 
more. 

Reptiles of the four orders are represented here. 

1. Turtles: the soft turtle (Aspidonectes spinifer), the snapping 
turtle (Chclydra serpentina), Ozotheca odorata, Thyrosternum 
Pennsilvanicum, Trachemys elegans, Graptemys geographica, 
Chrysemys Bellii. 

2. Lizards: very scarce; Cremidophorus sexlincatus, and the 
' Glass snake', which is no snake, Ophiosaurus lineatus. 

'-). Snakes : Crotalus durissus, the banded rattlesnake ; Crotalo- 
phorus tergominus, the prairie rattlesnake ; Agkistrodon contort- 
rix, the copperhead. These are our poisonous snakes. Harmless 
are Eutainia sirtalis, the gartersnake ; Nerodia sipedon, the water 
snake ; Heterodon platyrhinos, the blowing viper or hog-nose ; 
Pituophis melanoleucus, the bull snake ; Scotophis vulpinus ; Ophi- 
bolus Sayi, the king snake ; Ophibolus eximius, the milk snake ; 
Bascanion constrictor, the black snake ; Chlorosma vernalis, the 
green snake ; Storeria Dekayi ; and Storeria occipito-maculata. 

4. Batrachia, or naked reptiles : the toad (Bufo Americana), the 
tree frog (Hyla versicolor), the bull frog (Rana pipiens), the com- 
mon green frog (Rana halecina), the salamanders (Ambystoma 
lurida, Notophthalmus viridescens), the water puppy (Menopoma 
Alleghaniensis). 

The most known fishes in Illinois river are : the yellow perch 
(Perca flavescens), the black bass (Centrarchus fasciatus), the sun- 
fish (Pomotis vulgaris), the cat-fish (Pimelodus catus), the horned 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 223 



dace (Leuciscus diplerna), the warted sucker (Catostomus tubercu- 
latus), the red-horse (Catostomus Duquesnii), the pike (Esox 
estor), the gar (Lepidosteus), the eel (Anguilla lutea), the stur- 
geon (Acipenser), the shovel-fish (Polyodon folium), and many 
others; among them perhaps inairy undescribed, as our river 
fauna is not studied at all. 

Why has a city of nearly 30,000 inhabitants no public collection 
of the natural products of its vicinity, accessible to all, who might 
instruct themselves ? Is the dollar so mighty to suppress all the 
interest in the natural history of our country ? 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE FLORA OF PEORIA AND ITS VICINITY. 

Introduction. — The following chapter was written by 
our townsman Dr. J. T. Stewart (on special request) for 
the History of Peoria. 

The reader will probably be surprised when he is in- 
formed of the great amount of unappreciated beauty in 
the midst of which he has lived. 



The Flora of Peoria is varied and rich. Within a compass of 
five miles from the Court-House may be found almost every spe- 
cies of plant that grows in middle Illinois, middle Indiana, Ohio, 
and Iowa. Probably no spot in the United States represents a 
greater number of species. The extraordinary fertility and variety 
of soil which surrounds us is of necessity prolific of species. 



224 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

The dry and sandy plateau on which the greater part of the city 
stands, extending from the bluff to the river and from Kiekapoo 
creek to the Narrows, has its peculiar flora, and was, when the city 
was in its infancy, one grand carpet of flowers. 

The bluff, with its black prairie loam and clay sub-soil, repre- 
sents, or did before it was so fully occupied with firms and gar- 
dens, the prairie flora, with all the varied forms of vegetation 
that cover the immense prairies of Illinois. 

Beyond, and in some places almost touching the brow of the 
bluff, is what is characteristically termed the Barrens. This, as 
every western man knows, is not a poor soil, but is neither tim- 
ber nor prairie, being covered with scattering trees, is a firmer 
soil, containing less loam and more clay, and has quite a different 
flora. 

Be3 T ond the lake is a great body of land which annually over- 
flows, in which are many lakelets and marshes. Here is another 
flora, and one of unbounded richness. In this vicinity are some 
peat-bogs, containing many species peculiar to such localities: 
these in the fall are surpassingly beautiful. 

Jutting up against this bottom, the bold bluffs rise, interspersed 
with deep mossy glens and covered with an immense forest. The 
same conformation exists on this side of the river abovJ the Nar- 
rows, and below the city on Kiekapoo Creek. In these localities 
the flora differs widely from any of which we have spoken. And 
here are found some of the rarest and finest specimens of beauty 
and elegance the world can produce. And allow me to remark, 
that we by no means appreciate the beauty which surrounds us. 
"We send to the ends of the earth for flowers, and regard them as 
rare beauties, while we have growing wild, almost in sight of our 
doors, finer and more elegant ones, many of which have been seal 
abroad and are classed among the finest flowers by the most re- 
fined and cultivated men of Europe. Not a florist in Europe but 
cultivates some of the very flowers and shrubs that grow in this 
vicinity, prizes them highly, and places them among his choicest 
specimens. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 225 



I have only space to name a few, which I do at random, all of 
which and many more are worthy of a place in our gardens. 

In early spring the Spring Beauty (Claytonia Caroliniana) push- 
es its scapes up among the dead leaves, unfolding its clusters of 
delicate flowers, shaded from white to rose-color and veined with 
purple; the Blood-root (Sanguinaria Canadensis), snow white 
with golden anthers; the Liverwort (Hepatica triloba), varying in 
its hues from whitish to blue, purple, and flesh-color, too elegant 
to pass by and too pure, and beautiful to pluck; the Isopyrum 
biternatum, falsely called Anemone, rising above the rest on 
smooth, slender, branching stalks, with tiny white flowers; the 
Blue Bell (Mcrtensia Yirginica) ; the Columbine (Aquilegia Cana- 
densis) ; the Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), with its raceme of 
azure-blue flowers; the Anemone Caroliniana and Pennsylvanica ; 
the Violets, whitish, blue, and yellow ; the Buttercups (Ranuncu- 
lus fascicularis and repens) ; the Crane's-bill (Geranium macula- 
turn); the Polemonium (Polemonium reptans), easy of cultivation, 
with its corymbs of light-blue, bell-shaped, nodding flowers ; the 
Phlox (Phlox reptans, pilosa, glaberrima, and bifida), — the last is 
rare here, but is one of the finest of the phlox family; the Painted 
Cup or Indian Pink (Castilleia Coccinea), a unique annual and 
biennial, showy and pretty; the Wild Hyacinth (Scilla Fraseri); 
the Shooting Star (Dodecatheon Media); the Spirea aruncus and 
lobata, — the lobata is the Queen of the Prairie and is well named, 
grows from three to six feet high, bears compound clustered pani- 
cles of peach-blossom-colored flowers — very handsome ; the yel- 
low, white and purple Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium pubescens, 
candidum, and spectabile), — the last is a superb flower; the Five- 
fingered Gentian (Gentiana quinqueflora), an annual ; the Lion's 
Heart (Physostegia Yirginiana), annual; the Cardinal Flower 
(Lobelia cardinalis), annual ; the Spidcrwort (Tradescantia Virgin- 
ica); the Prairie and Wood Lilies (Lilium Philadelphicum and 
superbum). 

Our Asters are very abundant, and some of them very beautiful. 
There are more than twenty species, and varieties without end. 

29 



226 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



Some of our Golden-rods are worthy of cultivation. The Eupato- 
rium ageritoides is an elegant, free-flowering, white, fall flower of 
the composite order, very hardy, preferring- shady places. 

Of the ornamental vines, we have the Virgin's Bower (Clematis 
Virginiana) ; the Moons -ed (Menispermum Canadense) ; the Bit- 
tersweet (Celastras scandens) ; the Virginia Creeper (Ampleopsis 
quinquefolia) ; the Trumpet Creeper (Tecoma radicans) ; theDios- 
corea villosa, a delicate little vine growing in thickets; the wild 
Balsam-apple (Echinocystis lobata) ; and the Star-cucumber 
(Sicyos angulatus). 

Of ornamental shrubs there are, among others, the Wafer Ash 
(Ptelia trifolia) ; the Staff Tree (Staphillca trifolia) ; the Wahoo 
(Euonymus atrapurpureus) ; the Sumach (Rhus glabra and aromat- 
ica), — the former is our common sumach, and the latter is quite a 
pretty shrub, four to five feet high, with aromatic foliage. 

Our trees are too well known to require notice here. 

The Cyperaceee and grasses are well represented. There are as 
many species of grasses on a mile square here as there are in the 
entire South, excepting Texas and Arkansas, or the whole of Xew 
England. 

We are deficient in evergreens, having none but the Bed Cedar, 
and it is rare. The great Ericacia family (of which the Cranberry 
is a representative), which is so abundant in the East and South, 
has but one little insignificant representative, the Monotropa uni- 
flora. 

The Ferns are well represented, there being about twenty spe- 
cies, and among them some of the most delicate and elegant of the 
family. Other cryptogamous plants, as the Mosses, Lichens, and 
Fungi, are abundant. 

Unfortunately, the inarch of improvement, divorced as it ordi- 
narily is in the West from fine taste and culture, is making sad 
havoc with our flora. It never seems to enter the minds of men 
owning hundreds of acres of lands to inclose a few rods for the 
protection of our indigenous plants. I can now call to mind but 
one exception, and that is worthy of honorable mention. The Su- 



HISTORY OP PEOEIA. 227 



perintendent of Springdale Cemetery, Capt John H. Hall, has 
set apart a portion of that lovely plaee, whieh associates so much 
sulness and beauty, for the preservation of Nature's own flora. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



PHYSICIANS. 



The first man who attempted to live by the healing 
art, hereabout, was Dr. Augustus Lao g worthy. As late 
down as 1833, I believe he was the only physician be- 
tween Springfield on the south and Chicago on the north, 
and the Wabash on the east and the Mississippi on the 
west. He was not popular, and the place only wanted 
people to make it a tempting place for some young physi- 
cian to break into competition with him. 

In 1833, Dr. Rudolphus Rouse hoisted his sign, and 
bid fair to stand alone in the profession ; but population 
soon began to pour in, and doctors too. Dr. Cross, Dr. 
Bartlett, Dr. Livingston, Dr. Joseph C.Frye, and some 
others, came pouring in with the current, but none of them 
are remaining with us but Dr. Rouse and Dr. Frye. The 
former has succeeded well, and has withdrawn from the 
practice to enjoy a competence in his old age, which he 
earned in his younger days. Dr. Frye has succeeded 
equally well, but is still engaged in a large practice. Dr. 
Langworthy died in Bureau county, about two years ago. 



228 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

Dr. Cross returned long ago to New England, whence he 
came. Dr. Bartlett died in this place many years ago. 
Dr. Livingston has long since been living at West Wheel- 
ing, Ohio. 

At a very early date, it was found that there was a 
great diversity among our physicians. There were 
among them allopathic, botanic, eclectic and homoeo- 
pathic physicians, and what more I know not. I heard a 
good deal about root doctors, and Thompsonian doctors, 
and doctors whose particular sagacity lay in their ability, 
from the inspection of a vial of certain fluid brought from 
the patient, to tell what was the matter with him, and 
what to prescribe as a remedy, and whose title among the 
country people, to distinguish what kind of doctor lie 
was, was the name of the aforesaid fluid. However, for 
aught I know, all these may be included in some of the 
above divisions. 

The laws of Illinois do not prescribe who may and who 
shall not practice medicine. To remedy this evil, certain 
physicians, on the 19th of April, 1848, formed themselves 
into a medical society, which has been kept up to this 
day. Those who went into that arrangement were Ru- 
dolphus Rouse, Joseph C. Frye, Edward Dickinson, El- 
wood Andrew, John Murphy, John D. Arnold, F. Mc- 
Neil, William R, Hamilton, E. Cooper, J. T. Stewart, E. 
M. Colburn, John L. Hamilton, II. II. Waite, John N. 

Niglas, Willis Sperry, McConnell, Clark D. Rankin, 

A. B. Chambers, Robert Roskoten. 

But there were, at that time, a number of men who re- 
lied upon the practice of medicine for a support, whose 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 229 

names are not contained in the above list. That was 
probably because they could not produce a diploma from 
some medical school of their qualifications, or it may have 
been because they had adopted doctrines, or fallen into 
practices, that were deemed unprofessional. 

Those belonging to that society at this time are, Ru- 
dolphus Rouse, Joseph C. Frye, Robert Boal, E. Brendel, 

F. Brendel, J. Cary, I. J. Guth, J. P. Johnson, J. T. 
Stewart, J. L. Hamilton, H. Erase, J. Murphy, J. N". Nig- 
las, R. Roskoten, J. T. Skinner, J. R. Snelling, J. Studer, 

G. L. Lucas, and Wm. R. Hamilton. 

Besides these, who call themselves regular physicians, 
I find the following persons practicing medicine who do 
not belong to the medical society, to wit, E. M. Colburn, 
Moses Troyer, J. W. Martin, James Huggins, Harriman 
Couch, J. M. Evans, I. W. Johnson, and M. M. Eaton. 

The reader will perceive the name of Dr. Colburn in 
the list of regular-bred physicians when the society was 
first organized, but not in the list now. I understand the 
explanation to be that he was a regular-bred physician, 
and practiced as such for many years; but a new light 
having broken upon him, with regard to ' infinitissimal 
pills', or, peradventure, becoming convinced that the 
world was bound to be humbugged by some one, and 
that it was better for it to be done by an educated man^ 
who could tell when the patient needed medicine and 
when he did not, than by an ignorant man, who would 
administer infinitissimal doses when substantial medicine 
was necessary, or for some other reason, he became a 
homoeopathist, and was dropped from the list of regular 



230 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 






physicians. What a capital idea is this. I claim the 
honor of its discovery myself. Let all men designed for 
the medical profession be thoroughly educated in medi- 
cine, anatomy and surgery, and then turn homoeopathists, 
Thompsonians, clairvoyants, root-doctors, and p — s doc- 
tors, and thus steal from the humbuggers their thunder, 
and drive them out of the practice. When Mrs. Fidgety 
sends for a physician to see her daughter, the very deli- 
cate Miss Fidgety, who is dying from tight lacing and 
want of air and exercise, what is he to do? Should he 
tell them the truth, they would discharge him as family 
physician — a position worth a hundred dollars a year, 
and send for some one who, for want of knowledge, 
might give medicine that would ruin her, or perhaps have 
no effect whatever. But the greatest evil about this mat- 
ter is this: women, whether right or wrong, are permitted 
to decide who shall be the family physician. Xow when 
Dr. Ilumbuggus is inaugurated as family physician, and 
Mr. Fidgety gets sick, he must die for want of medicine: 
whereas, if the family physician had turned humbug, and 
'doctored up' Miss Fidgety with 'little pills' he might 
have been on hand to save Mr. Fidgety's life. Half the 
people who call for medicine need none, and in many 
cases little pills would be better than big ones; but a 
man must have some knowledge to be able to judge 
which to use; also to be able to judge whether the dis- 
ease is in the body or mind. 

I find the name of Dr. Rouse still retained in the list, 
although, as stated above, he has withdrawn from the 
practice. It should also be stated that, although the 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 281 

name of Dr. "W. R. Hamilton is retained in the list, he is 
not now in the practice. He is President of the Peoria 
and Rock Island Railway Company, and that office, I 
presume, occupies all his time. 

Dr. Andrew, Dr. Arnold, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Dickinson 
and Dr. Rankin have died. Whether Dr. Waite, Dr. 
McNeil, Dr. Sperry, and Dr. AlcConnell are dead, or, if 
alive, where they are, I can not tell. I did not know any 
of the latter but Dr. McXeil. As for Dr. Chambers, I know 
him well. He now lives in Warsaw, Ky., and practices 
his profession at that j^lace. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



LAWYERS. 

Our early legislatures never thought it necessary to 
protect us against ignorant pretenders in the practice of 
medicine, but did in the practice of the legal profession ; 
and we have always had laws that required every lawyer 
to undergo an examination as to his qualifications before 
he received a license to practice law. Not only does the 
law require that the student shall know the law, but he 
must prove that he has read at least for the space of two 
years in the office of some regular practitioner. This 
being so, it has been wondered how some have obtained 






232 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

license to practice without any legal learning. The thing 
is simple enough when explained. The Supreme Court 
has always deemed it an act of courtesy to the sister 
states that any lawyers they had examined and admitted 
to practice there should be admitted here without an ex- 
amination, and some of the sister states require no par- 
ticular amount of reading before being admitted. At one 
time our Supreme Court was very exact on this subject. 
While that was the case, young men could go across the 
line and get a license, and walk into court here with tri- 
umph, without having studied the two years, or two 
months even. Much of the time our court here has been 
very indulgent on the subject, and, in stead of examining 
the student themselves, would appoint a committee to 
examine him, who, having enough to do, and expecting 
no pay for the service, would sign a report in the stu- 
dent's favor with little or no examination. I have seen 
poor fellows examined in open court, until they would 
sweat profusely; I have also known licenses granted upon 
examinations that amounted to nothing. 

Gov. Ford and some one, I believe G. T. Metcalf, Esq., 
and I, were appointed a committee to examine an appli- 
cant. We met in Mr. M.'s office; Gov. Ford asked 
"What is law?" and the usual answer being given, lie 
signed the recommendation. Mr. M. asked a similar 
question, and signed it; I asked two or three others, and 
signed it also. Then, all at once, he who dreaded the 
examination and looked upon it with awful misgivings 
lest he should be rejected, found himself a happy, new r - 
fledged lawyer. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 233 

Samuel Q. Richardson, who, in his day, was well known 
in Kentucky (especially will his tragical death be remem- 
bered), told me (nearly forty years ago) the following 
story : He and two others were appointed by a court 
in Cincinnati to examine an applicant for the profession ; 
they met, and a tall, rather good-looking, but at the same 
time a verdant, young man made his appearance before 
them. They examined him a little and told him they 
could by no means recommend him to the court as quali- 
fied to practice the legal profession. He told them that 
he was no lawyer; that he had been brought up a car- 
penter, and was plying that trade then in that city, but 
he had concluded he could do better. I see, said he, 
where the shoe pinches. You perceive I am ignorant 
(which fact is as well known to me as to you), and you 
are ashamed to have such a one side by side with you in 
the bar of Cincinnati. I propose nothing of the kind. If 
you will procure my license, I will go immediately to 
Indiana, and apply myself to reading, and before the peo- 
ple find out how ignorant I am I will cease to be so igno- 
rant. His argument prevailed, and he obtained the li- 
cense, went to Indiana, and, when the story was told to 
me he was governor of that state. His name was James 
B. Kay. 

I once heard of, but was not present at, the following 
examination : 

1st Committeeman. — What is law? 

2d Committeeman. — What is meant by the common 
law? 

3d Committeeman. — What is meant by the civil law ? 
30 



234 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

1st Committeeman— What is good brandy made of? 

2d Committeeman. — Are you a judge of the article? 

3d Committeeman. — Do you know where the article 
can be got? Ans. I do. 

1st Committeeman. — -That will do. 
And while he was getting the brandy they signed his 
recommendation, and the brandy ended the farce. 

This sounds ridiculous enough, but really the public 
needs but little protection against ignorant lawyers. Let 
a fellow who knows nothing obtain a license to practice 
law, and who will employ him ? He will not get busi- 
ness enough to keep him from starving, and will have to 
quit and go to some other business. This is the rule. 
The only exception is that a man of great persistence may 
endure the mortifications of defeat until he rises above 
them. 

Not so with doctors. If a lawyer commits blunders, 
there is always a man on hand hired to expose them; 
whereas, the quack, with his dignified and mysterious 
airs, creeps quietly into your family (perhaps in the dead 
hours of night), and administers to your dearest friend a 
nostrum that will kill or cure, no one knows which, nor 
will the secret ever be known until Gabriel's last trump 
shall be sounded. How villainously wicked is the man 
who, when intrusted with the life of your wife, your hus- 
band, or child, will administer a drug that he does not 
know whether it will kill or cure, or do neither ! Every 
honest, well-educated physician ought to be in favor of a 
law that would prohibit a man from practicing medicine 
or surgery who is not acquainted with the power of med- 
icines and the anatomy of the human frame. 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 235 



I would make the same remarks with regard to the ne- 
cessity of having learned men in the profession of divin- 
ity (for divines, like doctors, have no one present hired 
to expose their errors) ; but, from the earliest history of 
man up to the present time, a large majority of men have 
had the organ of marvelousness so strongly developed, 
that they must be humbugged. They can not do with- 
out it; and if no one will humbug them gratis, they will 
readily pay some one to do it. For the present, at least, 
every body must be permitted to preach — saints and sin- 
ners, philosophers and fools. 

To John L. Bogardus, Esq., must be awarded the 
credit of being the pioneer lawyer of Peoria, and next in 
order of time stands Hon. Lewis Bigelow. 

When I came here, in November 1831, they were the 
only lawyers here, and the latter was only looking out 
for a location. He only remained a few days, and then 
went to St. Louis, and spent the winter there, I suppose 
because there was noplace in Peoria where he could com- 
fortably board. About the middle of March he returned 
to Peoria, and made this place his home until he died, in 
October 1838. He may, therefore, be called the second 
lawyer who settled in Peoria. 

He was born in Massachusetts in 1783; was educated 
to the law, and practiced that profession for years there, 
and was a member of Congress from 1821 to 1823. He 
published a 'Digest of the first twelve volumes of Massa- 
chusetts Reports \ 

Mr. Bigelow was a well-read lawyer, but not a success- 
ful practitioner. He was a man of strong prejudices, and 



236 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

lacked complaisance of manner. He was not void of 
logic, and appeared to be a good grammarian, and would 
argue a question of law pretty well, but his speeches were 
destitute of ornament, and his action was ungraceful. But 
probably the main reason of his failing as a lawyer was 
his want of tact. He seemed to me to be unskillful in the 
selection of a jury, and when selected, in addressing them 
so as to take advantage of their prejudices, or to avoid 
running against them. He would have selected the same 
kind of jurymen were he defending a horse-thief, as he 
would had he been prosecuting him; or had he been ad- 
justing a mercantile policy of insurance, or a controversy 
between farmers about the trespasses of cattle. The ques- 
tion with him was not whether this man, from his pecul- 
iar habits and prejudices, will likely go against him or 
for him, but whether, according to Mr. B.'s standard, he 
was a sensible and good man — that is, whether he was a 
man of staid New-England habits. He seemed to have 
a poor opinion of southern and western people and their 
habits. 

He was not an orthodox Christian, according to Xew- 
England ideas. He was, as I understood him, a strong 
believer in the Christian religion, but not in the Trinity, 
and some other strong Calvinistic doctrines. I under- 
stood him to be a Unitarian. 

He seemed to be aware of his want of adaptedness to 
the kind of jury practice we had here, and withdrew from 
the jiractice of the law for the offices of Justice of the 
Peace and Clerk of the Circuit Court, although those 
offices were then by no means lucrative. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 237 

The name of Mr. Bigelow is made most familiar to the 
present generation by his being one of the proprietors of 
Bigelow & UnderhhTs Addition to Peoria. He left, at 
his death, no wife nor son, but four daughters, Mrs. 
Frisby, afterward Mrs. Rankin, Mrs. • Harding, Mrs. 
Armstrong, and Mrs. Metcalf, all of whom have raised 
children. 

Several lawyers who have cut a considerable figure in 
their profession in Peoria have left this scene of action, 
whether for a better or worse, the writer hereof presumes 
not to decide, viz., William Frisby, Lincoln B. Knowlton, 
Onslow Peters, Norman H. Purple, Halsey O. Merriman, 
Julius Manning, Thomas Ford, Ezra G. Sanger and Will- 
iam L. May. Mr. Frisby and Mr. Sanger died young, 
before they had had time to establish high reputations, 
but their prospects of success as lawyers were bright. 
Mr. May was more of a politician than lawyer. He sel- 
dom attempted to argue a question of law, but on a ques- 
tion of fact, before a jury, or in apolitical speech, his abil- 
ity was above mediocrity. 

He was by birth a Kentuckian, and at one time a mem- 
ber of the Illinois Legislature, and at another register at 
the Springfield land-office, and from 1835 to 1839 he was 
a member of Congress. He, with thousands of others, 
rushed to California on the first report of the discovery 
of gold in that country, but the fatigues and exposure of 
that journey were too severe for his constitution. He 
sickened and died, leaving a wife and some children in 
Peoria. He had had, in his life, three wives. The one 
he left when he died Avas the daughter of the once some- 
what celebrated Caesar A. Rodney. 



238 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



Mr. May was a profane man, who made no pretensions 
to religion of any kind ; yet as such men at heart often 
believe the Christian religion, he may have done so. He, 
however, was one of those who do not c show their faith 
by their works \ 

The following compose the present bar of Peoria : 



Elihu N. Powell, 
Bryan & Cochran, 
Cooper & Moss, 
AVead <fc Jack, 
Henry Grove, 
Johnson & Hopkins, 
Ingersoll & McCune, 
Kobison & Caldwell, 
McCoy & Stevens, 
McCulloch & Rice, 
Kellogg & Son, 
Thomas Cratty, 
Julius S. Starr, 
Ellis Powell, 



L. H. Kerr, 

H. W. Wells, 

O'Brien & Harmon, 

Lindsay & Feinse, 

Chauncey Nye, 

Worthington &Puterbaugh, 

F. W- Voigt, 

Griffiths & Lee, 

M. C. Quinn, 

L. A. Lapham, 

W. Loucks, 

A. M. Scott, 

George E. Ford, 

George L. Bestor. 



Several of these do but little business, but as they have 
license and are willing to do business, I include them. 
There are several others who have license, but, as I sup- 
pose they obtained it not expecting to practice, but for 
the honor of the thing, I omit them. I also omit Hon. 
S. D. Puterbaugh, because he has left the bar for the 
bench; Hon. E. C. Ingersoll, because he has abandoned 
the bar for a seat in Congress ; and myself, because I have 
not abandoned the profession temporarily, as I suppose 
they have done, but for life. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 23& 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. JOHN L. BOGARDUS. 

The figure Mr. Bogardus cut in the settling of Peoria 
will, I presume, justify me in devoting a chapter to him, 
in addition to what has heretofore been said about him. 

He was born in the City of New York, and married 
there, to a lady who deserved to see better times than 
she saw in Peoria; but in November, 1831, I found him 
an ' old settler ' in Peoria, and I became well acquainted 
with him. He was a lawyer by profession, but did but 
little in that line after I became acquainted with him. 
He was not fit for that kind of business after I became 
acquainted with him. This may have been owing to in- 
temperance, but I suspect his mind was never sufficiently 
clear and discriminating for a successful lawyer. 

I found him in possession, by tenants, of the ferry 
which was then situated at the outlet of the lake, where 
the upper bridge now stands. He occupied two houses 
at that place, one partly of logs and partly of frame, both 
parts being covered alike with split boards; the other 
was a common hewn-log house. The first was one story 
high, and stood immediately on the bank of the river, a 
little above said bridge, and the other stood a little 
further from the river, and a little nearer Bridge street. 
At that time, however, Mr. Bogardus did not personally 



240 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

occupy this property. He then had a small log-cabin on 
what is now called Mills's Addition, in which he lived. 
He had rented the premises above described, with the 
ferry, to Samuel Chichester, for a specific time; but Chi- 
chester had recently died, and a kinsman of his, Mr. 
Isaac Waters, was in possession, to carry out Chichester's 
contract. 

Bogardus had much trouble about this property, be- 
sides the trouble he had with Eacls, as set forth in Chapter 
XXXIV, all of which resulted in Bogardus's favor; but 
he had other troubles about it. Among the rest, he 
leased the ferry to a Mr. Leach, who, finding that Bogar- 
dus had no title to the land, repudiated his claim as land- 
lord, and refused to pay rent or surrender. The law of 
Forcible Entry and Detainer was not so w^ell understood 
then as now. The case of Fortier & Blumb vs. Ballance 
(5 Gil. 111. Rep., 41) had not then been decided, and it 
was the opinion of some of our northern lawyers, who 
relied upon an old Massachusetts case, that title was 
necessary to sustain this suit, as well as an ejectment. 
Bogardus, I believe, was of this opinion, for he, in a dis- 
consolate mood, came to me for advice. I told him the 
law was clearly in his favor; that whether he had title 
or not, his tenant, who went in under him, could not 
raise the question; that he would not be permitted to 
dispute his landlord's title, until he had surrendered it 
up to him. He employed me, but apparently with but 
little hope of success. I sued, got judgment, and put 
out Leach, and restored Bogardus to the possession. 

Bogardus, however, either because of his great appre- 









HISTORY OF PEORIA. 241 



hension of losing the property, and being desirous of 
some one to aid him in protecting it, or because he was 
too much intoxicated to be fully aware of what he was 
doing, made an absolute deed of an undivided two-thirds 
of the ferry, and the tract of land on which it was situ- 
ated, to Lewis Bigelow and Samuel C. McClure, as is 
hereinafter set forth. 

In the various suits about said property, the considera- 
tion paid by said Bigelow and McClure to said Bogardus 
for said conveyance became material, and much testi- 
mony was from time to time taken on the subject, all of 
which I have read, and some times acted as an attorney 
in taking said evidence, and some times I was a witness 
myself. It was testified to positively, by at least one 
witness, that Bigelow and McClure practiced a base fraud 
on Bogardus, by reading to him a lease, and then, in its 
stead, presenting him for signature a deed for two-thirds 
of the property. With all the above opportunity of 
judging correctly, I give it as my opinion that no fraud 
was practiced on Bogardus, but such fraud as it is to 
deal with a man who is laboring under the delusions that 
whisky some times produces. When Bogardus signed 
the deed, he knew it was a deed, and he knew he was 
doing it without receiving a cent for it; but he labored 
under the delusion that they, by some sort of indescribable 
omnipotence, could protect him from all his enemies. 
After his frenzy had passed, and he was in his right 
mind, he repented, and attempted to repudiate what he 
had done; but they held him to it, and they quarreled. 
Bigelow bewail to think it time to have the deed on rec- 
31 



242 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

ord, and he got it, and told McClure to take it immedi- 
ately and have it recorded. 

After McClure had plenty of time to have had it re- 
corded, Bigelow invited McClure and myself to take a 
walk with him, which we agreed to. We leisurely 
strolled back, and up a road which then wound up the 
hill, northerly, through Mr. Pulsifer's property. When 
nearly up the hill, Mr. B. asked Mr. McC. if he had the 
deed recorded. The latter said he had not, but would 
on our return. Mr. B. became excited, and expressed 
strong dislike at his dilatory habits. He asked him for 
the deed. McC. examined his hat and his pockets, and 
not finding it, protested he had it since we started on the 
walk. We all returned to seek it, but did not find it. 
Xot far to the northeast of where we started up the bluff 
lived a man by the name of Trial (pronounced Triall). 
We went to his house to make inquiries about the deed. 
Mrs. Trial said one of her boys picked up a paper in the 
road, at the foot of the bluff, and brought it to her. She, 
not being able to read, could not tell what it was; but 
Bogardus's name being on it, she supposed it belonged to 
him, and sent it to him. Bogardus's signature was a pe- 
culiar one, which people who could not read could iden- 
tify. The boy who took the paper to Bogardus asked 
him if it was his. He replied that it was, and added 
that he had been anxious to get hold of it for some time. 
How remarkable that that paper should fall into the hands 
of young Trial, whose father was, at that time, unfriendly 
to Bogardus, and yet that his mother should send him 
directly to Bogardus with it ! 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 243 

What a dilemma ! Two poor men had got hold of a 
paper which, if held on to, was a support for life for both 
of them ; but that paper, through their carelessness, had 
got into the hands of the grantor, who denied the grant. 
They brought an action of replevin to recover the deed, 
and a bill in chancery to enforce their rights under it. 
This was the state of affairs when Mr. Underbill made 
his appearance in Peoria. Bogardus was too poor to 
carry on a lawsuit as he wished to see it done, and he 
sold out the whole property, worth a much larger sum, 
for $1,050, with the expectation that Underbill (who was 
from the great city of New York) would 'law them out 
of house and home '. Underhill, however, made the pur- 
chase with an understanding between himself and Bige- 
Ioav and McClure that he and they would be equal part- 
ners; that is, that Bigelow and McClure, in stead of 
owning two-thirds, according to their bargain with Bo- 
gardus, were to have one-half, and that Underhill, in 
stead of having all, according to his contract with Bo- 
gardus, was to have one-half. 

Bigelow soon got clear of McClure, and he and Under- 
hill laid off said ground into what is now called Bigelow 
and Underbill's Addition to Peoria. And thus was laid 
the foundation of two ample fortunes, in that which cost 
one of the parties precisely nothing at all, and the other 
$1,050. 

There were an immense number of suits about that 
property afterward ; but, as Bogardus's claim ceased with 
his deed to Underhill, I will drop the subject for the 
present. 



244 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



There had been a large controversy at ISTew York be- 
tween the Trinity Church and the heirs of Anneke Jans, 
in which Bogardus was interested. An older brother of 
his, called General Bogardus, had had the management 
of this suit. After it had been pending a long time, it 
was dismissed. Whether it was dismissed because the 
other heirs failed to contribute their portion of the expens- 
es, or because the general became satisfied the suit could 
not be sustained, or because he was paid by the church 
for doing so, is more than I know ; but John L. appeared 
to be indignant at the course of his brother, and went on 
to New York avowedly to prosecute that claim. After 
being there about that business for some time, he re- 
turned here in the fall of 1838, and died from the effects 
•of the too free use of ardent spirits. 

It is difficult to judge what J. L. Bogardus had been 
from any thing I saw of him while I knew him, for he 
had been much damaged by the use of distilled liquors 
before I knew him, and was, as above stated, drunk the 
most of the time during the seven years of our acquaint- 
ance. 

Bogardus had a wife, who was living with her son-in- 
law, Mr. Sill, in Troy, New York, in the winter of I860- 
1867. He had a son, William M. C. Bogardus, who 
married some where near the mouth of the Ohio. It was 
reported he was dead; but whether he left any child was 
unknown here until I was informed by his mother, when 
I saw her in Troy, that he left one son, called John L. 
Bogardus. who was a lawyer in Cincinnati. William 
was a very common man, having neither ambition nor 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 245 

talents. He (the elder J. L. B.) had another son, named 
Warren B. G. Bogardus, who died when sixteen or sev- 
enteen years old, apparently a sprightly lad. Also, a 
daughter, named Peoria Ann Bogardus, who died in 
childhood. After that child had died, they had another, 
to which they gave the same name. She is the wife of 
Mr. Sill, an apparently well-doing gentleman, above re- 
ferred to. 

When Bogardus got drunk, he not only imagined rats 
in his boots, etc., but he some times imagined himself 
very rich, and that every body wished to rob him. There 
came along a soldier by the name of Seeds, who had de- 
serted from the military post at Green Bay. Bogardus 
took him into his employment, and constituted him a 
sentinel to guard his premises, and gave positive orders 
that if any one came along who could not give the coun- 
tersign, to shoot him down. A drunken fellow, who had 
been drinking and gambling there, but who knew nothing 
about the soldier nor his countersign, came round the 
corner, and giving no satisfactory answer to a challenge 
from the soldier, the latter shot him down. The soldier 
was indicted for murder, but was never punished. There 
being no jail, he was after a while permitted to escape. 

In olden times, fish were much more plenty than now, 
and Bogardus got a large seine, and caught many wagon- 
loads of fish, and built a large hopper with split boards, 
near where Judge Gale now lives, or a little nearer the 
city, and filled it with fish, hoping that when they should 
decay, the oil would run down into a pirogue placed be- 
neath to catch it; but this was a mistake. The mass be^ 



246 • HISTORY OF PEORIA. 



came filled with maggots, and raised a stench that no one 
could endure. Even the wolves could neither comprehend 
nor endure it. They would gather in groups on the hills 
in that vicinity, but not too near, and make the night 
hideous with their howlings. 



CHAPTER XLIY. 



THE SUBJECT CONTINUED. GOV. FORD. 

Not so much for the figure Gov. Ford cut in the set- 
tling of Peoria, as for the figure he cut in the state at 
large, I have concluded to devote a chapter to his biog- 
raphy. 

Mrs. Ford, the mother of Gov. Ford, found herself, in 
1802, near Brownsville, in Pennsylvania, with a large 
family of small children, with no husband, and nothing 
with which to support her children. She had had two 
husbands, the first one by the name of Forquer, who was 
killed by a coal-bank falling on him. Her second hus- 
band, Robert Ford, disappeared, and was reported to have 
been killed by robbers. Among her first set of children 
was a boy named George Forquer, who was born near 
Brownsville, Pa., in 1794, and afterward became some- 
what conspicuous in the history of Illinois. One of the 
second set of children was the subject of this memoir, 
and was born near Uniontown, Pa., in the year 1800. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 247 



The Spanish government at this time had possession 
of Louisiana, which included Missouri, and, to induce 
emigration to that section, gave lands gratis to actual set- 
tlers. To avail herself of this boon, Mrs. Ford, in 1804, 
started with all her children in a keel-boat from Browns- 
ville to St. Louis. But when she reached St. Louis, she 
found, too late, that the country had been ceded to the 
United States, and she could get no land without buying 
it, and the money to buy with she had not. At St. Louis 
her family got sick and were delayed ; but before the year 
was out they were settled in Illinois, near where the town 
of Waterloo has since been built. Mrs. Ford must have 
been a superior woman, for, though extremely poor and 
in a neighborhood where schools were exceedingly scarce, 
she did give these boys a respectable education. About 
the other children I know nothing. Reynolds, in his 
'Pioneer History of Illinois', tells the remarkable story 
that, when Forquer was nine years old and Ford five, 
they " walked upwards of three miles to school." I sup- 
pose this is a mistake as to the date. The distance was 
nothing unusual for those times, had the boys been a lit- 
tle older. But both the boys had to work out the most 
of the time to get bread and meat for the family. For- 
quer, for this purpose, was hired out at the early age of 
nine years, and I know a man who has seen Gov. Ford, 
when a lad, officiating as a hostler and servant about a 
small country tavern. Forquer, when old enough for that 
purpose, went over to St. Louis and learned the carpen- 
ter and joiner's trade, and worked at it several years after 
he got through with his apprenticeship. How the mother 



248 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

and children were supported in the mean time, or whether 
the other boys ever worked any, has not been handed 
down to me. That they were of no great account I infer 
from the fact that Ford was always ready to talk about 
George, but none of the others. 

Mr. Forquer seems to have flourished as a carpenter 
and joiner, for in 1818 he came over to Illinois and pur- 
phased the land on which Waterloo is located, and he and 
Hon. Daniel P. Cook laid out said town. This was, no 
doubt, a good move, but he branched out into merchan- 
dise — a thing he did not understand — and went under, 
and was harassed for years with debt. 

At this time there was a debating club in his county, 
and he participated in the debates, and here discovered a 
fact that he had not known before, that he was by nature 
pretty well qualified for a public speaker. At that time, 
several talented men who were lawyers, orators, and poli- 
ticians, ruled the destinies of Illinois. With these men 
lie had become acquainted; a new scene burst upon his 
theretofore circumscribed vision; he became egregiously 
aspiring; he laid aside the yard-stick and jack-plane, 
and betook himself to law-books and political tracts. He 
ran for office at nearly every election, and, whether a 
candidate or not, he made political speeches to practice 
oratory. His ambition was considered audacious, yet he 
generally succeeded, and learned to be a pretty good 
public speaker. 

lie held the offices of attorney-general, secretary of 
state, register of a land-office, and member of the state 
Senate, after I came to the state, lie labored hard to 






HISTORY OF PEORIA. 249 



get into Congress, but failed; soon after which his health 
gave way and he went the way of all the world. Such 
was his ambition and his determined will that, had he 
lived a little longer, he would undoubtedly have become 
governor of the state, or a member of the United States 
Senate. 

This is the man that the poor laborer, Thomas Ford, 
had for a foster-father, as being an older brother and the 
father being dead. When Forquer became a merchant, 
he sent Ford to Transylvania University for a thorough 
education; but before the first year was out, the former 
broke, and the latter came home for want of funds to pay 
his way. Hon. Daniel P. Cook, a young man of high 
promise, who became son-in-law to Gov. Edwards, and a 
member of Congress, had become acquainted with the 
family while he and Forquer were figuring with their 
town-lots, and, sympathizing with Ford's disappointment 
in not being able to go through college, advised him to 
read law without it, and at once become a lawyer. This 
advice Ford took, hoping, probably, that Cook would fur- 
nish the money ; but this not happening, and not liking 
to go to work again, he read law awhile, and taught school 
a while, until he was able to obtain license to practice 
law. Which got license first, he or Forquer, I am not 
able to tell; but Forquer' s ambition bore him ahead, leav- 
ing Ford in the back-ground. In 1823, the latter got 
license to practice law. Although Cook failed to furnish 
Ford money, he, no doubt, furnished him influence, for> 
in 1829, his father-in-law, Gov. Edwards, appointed him 
state's attorney of the judicial district in which he lived. 
32 



250 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

In 1831, Gov. Reynolds appointed him to the same office 
for the northern circuit, including nearly all the northern 
half of the state. In 1835, as before stated (Chap. XV), 
he was elected Circuit Judge; in 1840, a Judge of the 
Supreme Court; and in 1842, Governor of the State of 
Illinois. 

Although Ford was more diffident than Forquer, and 
did not show his ambition so much, he was, nevertheless, 
ambitious,* and was successful — not as fast as his brother 
Forquer, but as fast as his abilities could sustain him. 
His clear perception, and plain, unassuming manners, en- 
abled him to make a popular judge; but his administra- 
tion as governor of the state was a perfect failure, and 
this he understood as well as others; and in his 'History 
of Illinois' (page 271), he explains why lie failed, in the 
following words: "Mr. Snyder had been nominated be- 
cause he was a leader of the party. Mr. Snyder died, 



* It was the opinion of some that modesty and diffidence were 
inherent with Gov. Ford, and that wherever he exhibited ambi- 
tion he was spurred to it by Forquer ; and I have seen some evi- 
dence of his native diffidence. Although the practice of the law 
and the office of judge have a great tendency to wear out a man's 
native diffidence, I remember that when he was sworn into office 
as governor in the presence of the General Assembly, and under- 
took to read to them his inaugural address, he could not do it. He 
had read but a small way when his voice failed, and he sunk down 
on the seat or table upon which he was standing. Hon. John Cal- 
houn (of candle-box notoriety), rose as the governor sank down, 
and took the paper from his hand and read it with a clear, strong 
voice. Ford, however, had learned usually to summon up courage 
enough to argue a case or give a decision. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 251 

and I was nominated, not because I was a leader, for I was 
not, but because I was believed to have no more than a 
very ordinary share of ambition ; because it was doubtful 
whether any of the leaders could be elected, and because 
it was thought I would stand more in need of support 
from leaders than an actual leader would. To this cause, 
and perhaps there were others, I trace the fact, which 
will hereafter appear, that I was never able to command 
the support of the entire party which elected me." Al- 
though the above-quoted paragraph speaks the truth with 
regard to himself, it does not speak the whole truth. 
Although he had the ability to make a very respectable 
judge, he was not man enough to rule Illinois in times so 
turbulent, nor were there many men who could have done 
any better; yet, I venture the assertion that his competi- 
tor, Gen. Duncan, was the man that could have done that 
thing. lam very sure that Gen. Hardin, had he been in 
that office, would have made the Mormons and anti-Mor- 
mons of Hancock, and the vigilants and anti-vigilants 
and scoundrels of every grade in Massac, tremble before 
the majesty of the law. 

The trouble was, that, although Ford had accej^ted the 
services of a dishonest clique to get into the governor's 
chair, he intended, when once in, to govern the state 
patriotically and independently, without being controlled 
by them. But they proved too strong for him. When 
he found they would not aid him in putting down the 
Mormon and anti-Mormon war, he employed Gen. Har- 
din and other Whigs to do it. This created so great an 
outcry throughout the democratic ranks, that he became 



252 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

alarmed, and he let the people of Massac cut each other's 
throats, and drown each other in the Ohio, until they quit 
of their own accord; and when the second Mormon dis- 
turbance broke out, he was afraid to call on Whigs for 
aid, for fear of losing caste with his party. And when he 
was in a state of quasi siege in Nauvoo, and deemed his 
life in danger, he appealed to Mr. Smith Frye, a Demo- 
crat of some standing in Peoria, to come with a force to 
his relief. Frye at first talked of raising a party for that 
purpose, but finally abandoned the project, and left the 
governor to his fate. I know Whigs in Peoria who, if 
they had been appealed to by the governor, under those 
circumstances, would have hastened to his assistance with 
a sufficient force to relieve him. 

But from what Ford says about how he got into the 
governor's chair, no correct idea can be formed. By 
what he says, the idea would be taken up that he had no 
ambition for office, but, his party having nominated him, 
he patriotically accepted the nomination. The facts were 
the following: He belonged to the democratic party; but 
there was much knavery practiced by that party in 
those days (and by all parties, I believe, now-a-days), 
which he heartily disapproved. He also became con- 
vinced that he had obtained as high a position as he 
could obtain, without throwing himself into the ring of 
intriguers, and getting their aid in obtaining a nomination 
to a higher position. 

At that time there was a ring of young men, who gen- 
erally ruled the destiny of the state. These young men 
had procured the nomination of Hon. A. W. Snyder for 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 253 

the office of governor. I know not whether Ford desired 
that nomination, and felt chagrined because he did not 
get it, or whether he had been disappointed in not get- 
ting a seat in Congress ; but about this time he had a long 
conversation with me, in which he avowed the doctrine 
that a man, to be able to benefit his country, must get in- 
to power, and to do this he must adopt such means as 
would put him into power; that the day had gone by 
when quiet, old-fashioned virtue would procure for a man 
a position in which he could display his patriotism; that 
to refuse to adopt the only means of getting into power 
was to yield all power into the hands of selfish and disso- 
lute men; that the only means left for honest men to 
purge the government was to use the governing cliques 
to get into power, and then to purge out their corrup- 
tions, and, if need be, them with them. This conversa- 
tion was not had with reference to the then pending elec- 
tion for governor, for that was looked upon as a fixed fact; 
but soon after this Snyder died. What was to be done? 
It was rather late to get together another convention of 
the party, and should it be done, perhaps the governing 
clique might not be able to govern the convention so as 
to get a man they could control; or, peradventure, they 
might nominate a man whom the whig candidate (a very 
strong man) might beat. A meeting of the clique was 
had, and the determination come to to run Ford without 
the indorsement of a convention, provided the necessary 
assurances could be obtained. A committee of two was 
sent to Ottawa, where Ford was then holding court. A 
long interview was had with him. What pledges were 



254 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

obtained, or whether any, I never knew; but as soon as 
the interview was ended, it was advertised all over the 
state that Ford was the democratic candidate for £Ov- 
ernor. It was a wise movement, for the democratic party 
was not strong at that particular juncture, and the Whigs 
were running a very strong candidate; but Ford's char- 
acter was fair, and he had not been much concerned in 
the questions that had operated unfavorably upon the 
democratic party, and success attended him. 

The four years which Gov. Ford spent as governor of 
Illinois were the worst sj)ent four years of his life. He 
left the office bankrupt, and with greatly impaired health. 
In pecuniary matters, he was incorruptible; but it was 
said that the harpies about the capital got him into habits 
that were injurious to him, and probably shortened his 
days. After his return to Peoria, I had a conversation 
with him, in which he appeared to be deeply impressed 
with the idea that his course for the last few years had 
been a bad one, and that he intended a thorough refor- 
mation. In this I have no doubt of his sincerity; but it 
was too late, and now he, who ought to be upon the bench 
of the Supreme Court of the state, has for several years 
been in Springdale Cemetery. 

A short summary of Gov. Ford : He was a small man, 
with features indicating one from the lower, rather than 
the upper, walks of life. His nose was rather sharp, and 
bent a little to one side. He was plain and unpretending 
in his manners. He was no orator, in the common ac- 
ceptation of the word; but what he said was to the point. 
He was not a great man, but a smart little man. He was 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 255 

not a great gun, but a small gun that shot quick, and shot 
straight. He reasoned well, not so much by any show of 
logic, as by clear, distinct statements. Though his mind 
was not far-reaching, it was never in a cloud. Whatever 
he saw, he saw clearly. He had a tolerably clear percep- 
tion of the ludicrous, and some times told anecdotes, but 
not original ones; and so far was he from aspiring to orig- 
inality in such matters, that he would, in telling a story, 
quote his authority, as, Mr. Lincoln, or Col. Strode, or 
some one else having a reputation for telling stories, says 
so and so; or, I will tell you one of Mr. Lincoln's, or 
Strode's stories. 

He was not religious, in the common acceptation of the 
word; yet, up to his forty-second year, he lived as pure a 
life as any man I knew. Like Lincoln, he belonged to no 
church, opposed no church, and refrained from talking on 
religious topics. I never did know what were his opin- 
ions on those subjects. I supposed him to be an infidel, 
in the common acceptation of that word ; but this I do not 
assert to have been the case. 



256 HISTORY OF PEQMA. 



CHAPTER XLV. 



BANKING FACILITIES. 



Pkeyious to 1851 we had no banking facilities in 
Peoria of any kind, and all our interests suffered much 
for want of them. In those days, the Democrats repu- 
diated all kinds of banks in their public speeches, and pro- 
claimed to the world the Jackson doctrine, that 'those who 
dealt in borrowed cajntal ought to fail '. Yet, after being 
elected to the legislature, they generally managed to keep 
the South, where Democracy was triumphant, supplied 
with banks, while the North was nearly or quite destitute. 
There was not one, in those days, in this part of the state, 
nor could we any more succeed in getting one than we 
could in getting the capital removed to Peoria. These 
matters of finance ought not to be mixed up with party 
politics; but politicians will resort to any thing to carry an 
election, and in such matters they exhibit much shrewd- 
ness. The "Whigs Avcre bold advocates of a national 
bank, but not of state or individual banks ; yet these they 
would tolerate, or even help to establish, rather than 
have none. The Democrats generally managed it so 
that abundance of bank charters were passed, by more 
Whig votes than Democratic votes; that is, they would 
get all the Whigs to vote for the measure they could, 
and then spare to the measure only enough Democrats to 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 257 

carry it, and let those be from counties whose interest 
was in favor of the bank, or whose constituents were not 
in the habit of scrutinizing the conduct of their represent- 
atives, or such as it was not the interest of the party 
leaders to have returned to the legislature. They were 
then ready at the next election canvass to denounce the 
AVhigs as purse-proud aristocrats and bank-bought poli- 
ticians; and many good Democrats to this day believe 
their party has always been opposed to all banks. 

There were two principal banks in Illinois — one located 
at Shawneetown, and the other at Springfield; one was 
called The State Bank of Illinois, and the other Bank 
of the State of Illinois. Each was allowed by the legis- 
lature to establish sundry branches, but none in Peoria. 
I have no doubt that these banks did much good in their 
day, in the neighborhoods in which they were located, 
but their bad management and final downfall obscured 
all the good they had done. 

In 1850, we were almost destitute of a circulating me- 
dium. Not only had all our Illinois banks gone down, 
but the western banks generally had done so. A little 
specie was in circulation, and some New-England and 
New- York bank-notes. We had not even a broker in 
Peoria. In Chicago there were no banks of issue, but 
several brokers, prominent among whom was George 
Smith, a Scotchman, and a smart business man, and re- 
puted rich. He, perhaps aided by others, inundated the 
north half of Illinois, and parts of other adjoining states, 
with paper after the similitude of bank-notes, which pur- 
ported to be issued by an institution at Milwaukee, called 
33 



258 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

the Marine and Fire Insurance Cornpan}^. This paper 
was said to be illegal and without a basis, but the people 
were so anxious to have some kind of circulating medium 
that they were not inclined to scrutinize it much. 

In 1851, Mr. Nathaniel B. Curtiss came from Chicago 
to Peoria, and opened an office, at the upper corner of 
Main and Water streets, which lie called the Banking- 
Iiouse of N. B. Curtiss & Co. He dealt for some time 
in said Milwaukee paper, which, it was understood, he 
got of George Smith. Be that as it may, that which 
circulated to a small extent before now came into general 
circulation. No body supposed the money was good, or 
that Curtiss was responsible for it; but the people wanted 
a circulating medium, and they were willing to take 
whatever was offered. 

Curtiss drove a large business, and made money; and, 
probably having to pay something for the Milwaukee 
money, he got up and circulated other kinds, particularly 
notes on the Cherokee Bank, which purported to have 
been issued in Georgia. There may have been a bank 
in Georgia of that name, and these notes may have been 
issued there, for any thing I know to the contrary; but 
the fact that the people believed them to be spurious, and 
the other bankers probably knew them to be, and still 
people and banks received them freely as good money, is 
a strong argument in favor of some body's doctrine on 
the subject of credit. I suppose Curtiss paid a little, 
but very little more than nothing at all, for this money; 
and yet, from what I saw of his operations, I give it as 
my opinion he made twenty-five per cent, on it, and yet 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 259 

lie broke. He became too reckless. He trusted every- 
body; among others, he let Kellogg & Co., who were 
building the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad, have more 
than $100,000 (I have heard it said nearly three times 
this amount). Finally, in 1857, he got scared, and closed 
his doors. In this measure he was probabi}' unwise, for 
the people were not inclined to inquire into his circum- 
stances. This made a great tumult in the community, 
and where Christianity had not taken too deep root, some 
'tall swearing' was done. 

Mr. Curtiss, however, after arranging his affairs a little, 
and buying some of his paper at a discount, tried it again ; 
but it 'would not work'. The charm was broken. 'He 
had to go under'. 

Mr. Curtiss's success soon raised up competitors. 

It being perceived that Curtiss was making money fast, 
Messrs. William R. Phelps and Benjamin L. T. Bourland, 
of Peoria, and Gideon H. Rupert and James Haines, of 
Pekin, in 1852 opened an office on the opposite corner, 
which they called the Central Bank. In 1853, they sold 
out this establishment to Governor Joel A. Matteson and 
his son-in-law, R. E. Goodell, who run the establishment 
about three years, when it failed. 

Mr. Joshua P. Hotchkiss, in the fall of 1852, opened an 
office of the same kind, which he called the Bank of J. P. 
Hotchkiss & Co., and carried it on with apparent success 
until his death, which happened in 1856. Mr. Hotchkiss 
was in feeble health for some time before his death, and 
intrusted the business to Lewis Howell, his cashier, and 
was so well pleased with his management that he pro- 



260 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

vicled in his will that Mr. Howell should, after his death, 
carry on the business in the same name, at a salary, for 
the benefit of his heirs. This Mr. Howell did for about 
four years; but it becoming inconvenient, or perhaps 
impossible, to carry out the requirements of the will, he 
and others bought out the institution, and for about four 
years carried on the business in the name of L. Howell 
& Co. In 1864, it was organized into a national bank, 
under the law of Congress, and called The Second Na- 
tional Bank of Peoria. Under that law, and that name, 
it is operating now. 

Previous to 1864, there had been a bank at the upper 
corner of Main and Washington streets, in the building 
Mr. Curtiss had built, and in which his bank was kept at 
the time of its failure. Marshall P. Stone, William F. 
Bryan, and others, had been concerned in this establish- 
ment (I do not remember them all). In 1864, that was 
turned into The First National Bank, and from that time 
to this it has been conducted as such. Mr. Washington 
Cockle is president, and Mr. W. E. Stone i* cashier. 

In 1865 was established the Mechanics' National Bank 
of Peoria. Mr. H. N. Wheeler is president, and J. Boyd 
Smith is cashier. 

There are two private banking-houses here. The style 
of one of these is S. Pulsifer & Co. The business is 
mostly conducted by Mr. Erastus D. Hardin, who is un- 
derstood to be a partner in the institution. The other 
is the Banking-Housc of Davis & Hogue. This firm is 
composed of Thomas L. Davis, an old citizen of Peorin, 
but now residing at Henry, and James B. Hogue, who 
has recently come to this city. 



HISTORY OF PEORIA. 261 



In addition to all these, we have a Savings Bank for 
those who have small sums, with which other banks wish 
not to be troubled, and even this is said to be doing well. 
Mr. Philip Zell seems pretty much to have the control 
of it 

All these institutions are doing well, and have a good 
reputation with the people, and supply the community 
with a reasonable amount of banking facilities, and de- 
posits are considered safe in all of them. But let times 
change; let some great commercial crash come upon the 
country, and they would probably all or most of them 'go 
by the board '. 

What then ? Because of the apprehension that in some 
pecuniary panic they may break, shall we withdraw our 
confidence and break them now, and bring on that crisis? 
Or shall we not rather foster them, and avail ourselves of 
their benefits as long as we can, but keep as good a look- 
out as we can, so as to be as well guarded as possible 
against a panic ? The latter would certainly be the wiser 
course. 

The foundation of all j>rosperity is labor. Whatever 
will induce men to work will contribute to the wealth of 
a neighborhood. Should a bank be established without 
a dollar of gold or silver, and the people have such confi- 
dence in the directors that they would take its paper as 
freely as they would sj)ecie, they might use the money 
to build factories- — in fact, to build a manufacturing city. 
Then, after a city had been built, and some had grown 
rich, and all had been supported off it for ten years, sup- 
pose it should break. What then ? Would the fortunes 



262 HISTORY OF PEORIA. 

that had been made off it vanish ? Would the city that 
had been built by it take wings and fly away ? Would 
the people who had been fed by it ten years have to dis- 
gorge ? Should the bank go down, all who had depended 
upon it for the sinews of business would be put to some 
inconvenience, and any who happened to have any of the 
money on hand would be liable to lose it; but all these 
losses would be nothing compared to the gain during the 
ten years, and even these losses would be less than at first 
they would seem to be. The ten years that had passed 
would have infused so much energy into the people that 
the stagnation in business would not last long; for they 
would soon make another bank, or resort for funds to one 
already in existence. As for the loss by the bank-notes 
on hand, there would be but little on that score, for peo- 
ple would generally pay their notes in the bank with its 
paper, and those who owed the bank, but had no paper, 
would buy it, perhaps at a discount, from those who had it. 
Even in the case of N". B. Curtiss, notwithstanding all 
the curses he got for breaking, I am of the opinion that, 
besides making a fortune for himself, he benefited this 
community a good deal more than he injured it. It is 
very questionable whether the Peoria and Oquawka Rail- 
road would ever have been built without Curtiss's ' wild- 
cat' money. It certainly would not have been built as 
Boon as it was. 



INDEX. 



Aiken, Joshua 104, 105, 128 

Allen, Rev. William 110 

Allison, Alexander 125 

Alter & Howell 212 

Artesian Well 175, 176 

Banking in Peoria 256 

Baptist Society 113 

Bartlett, A. P • 211 

Bartlett, Dr. Peter 227, 228 

Bartlett, P. C 212 

Benson, Rev. John 113 

Bergen, Rev. John G 108 

Beggs, Rev. Mr.. 100 

Bigelow, Lewis 2:35, 241, 243 

Billings & Lloyd 215 

Birket, John 27, 123, 125 

Blacksmiths and Plowmakers 123 

Boating 155 

Bogardus, John L 180, 239, 241, 243, 245 

Book-Binderies 193 

Bourland, B. L. T 259 

Brich, Rev. John 101, 104, 107, 108 

Brick 178 

Bryan, William F 260 

Bryson, John G 212 

Buckley, Hanne3 r , Estes & Co 126 

Buildings, public 80 

Buxton, Abram S 187 



264 INDEX. 



Caldwell, J. W. & A 134 

Canada, LaSalle goes to 9 

Canal, Illinois and Michigan 1,2 

Canoes 155 

Carpenters and joiners 144 

List of 145 

Charlevoix 23 

Chase, Rt. Rev. Philander 112, 113 

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 149 

Chicago in Peoria county 54 

Churches and religious societies 100 

Circuit court, first held 59 

List of jurors and officers 59, 60 

Civil list for 1844 57 

Clark, Gen. George Rogers 40 

Clerk's office 83 

Coal and stone 173 

Cockle, Washington 260 

Coe, Rev. James W 112 

Cole, Almiran S 135, 136, 143 

Coles's, Edward, Report 22, 24 

Commerce of Peoria 110 

Commercial men of to-day 213 

Commissioners' court 53 

List of officers of the first one 53, 54 

Convention to form a constitution 49 

List of the members 50 

Convention, present 51 

Cook, Hon. Daniel P 248, 249 

Copper 1 76 

Corn-planters 145 

Court-House 86 

Cracraft, Rev. Mr 112 

Craig, Capt 29 

His letter 30 






INDEX. 265 

Creve-Coeur 9 ; 26 

Cross, Dr. Enoch 104, 227 

Curtiss, K B 258 

Daugherty, James 212 

Davis, Samuel H 187 

Davis, Thomas L 2C0 

Deiters, Rev. William 115 

Desplaines river 1 

Distilleries 135 

List of in 1864 137 

Dobbins, McClure and McFadden's Elevator, 216 

Doctors, dead and removed 231 

Drown, S. D. W 42 

Dyer, Rev. Palmer Ill 

Eads, Abner, and others at Peoria 44 

Goes for his family 47 

Controversy with Bogardus 180 

Edwards, Gov. N 29, 51, 249 

Elevators 216 

Episcopalian Church. — St. Jude's Church Ill 

St. Paul's Church 112 

St. Paul's Chapel 113 

Eustis, Secretary of War 29 

Evans, Isaac 124 

Farrell, W. B. & H. G 213 

Fauna of Peoria 127 

Ferries and Bridges 179 ( 183 

First National Bank 260 

Flat-Boats 155 

Flora of Peoria 223 

Ford, George 124 

Ford, Gov. Thomas, as judge 65 

Biographical notice of 246 

Summary 254 

34 



2G6 ixdex. 



Forquer George 246 

Fort Clark 22 

Location and description of 41 to 48 

Fortifications, Ancient 25 

Six in all 27 

Foundries and Machine-shops 119 

Frazer, Thompson & Co 120 

French Claim controversy 193 

French of Peoria, low and ignorant 18 

List of them 10 

Left no evidences of civilization 20 

Frisby, William 237 

Fulton county established 52 

Fulton, Josiah, and others came with Eads 39, 44 

Frye, Dr. Joseph C 127, 128 

Gray Andrew 211 

Great Britian, treaty with 28 

Green, Rev. W. T 113 

Griffin, LaSalle's vessel 9 

Groceries 214 

Grocers of to-day 214 

Haines, James 259 

1 [ale, Asahel 103 

Hale, William 128 

Hamilton, W. S 61 

Hamlin, John 127, 210 

Hardin, Erastus D 260 

Hardware 215 

Heid, Rev. Paulus 116 

Hennepin 7, 8, 11, 25 

1 [erron, William A 213 

Hogue, James B 260 

Hopkins, Gen 33 

Hopkins, William R 119 



INDEX. 267 

Horses, scarce at Peoria 63 

Hotchkiss, J. P 259 

Hotchkiss, Z. N" 215 

Hovey, Rev. Mr Ill 

Howard, Gen 40 

Howell, Lewis 212, 259 

Hubbard, G. S 42 

Hurley, Rev. Michael 115 

Illinois Champion 187 

Illinois State 1, 49 

Illinois Territory 49 

Indians, description of 12 

Jail 81 

Jay's Treaty 28 

Jews 118 

Job Printing offices 183 

Johnston, Rev. Robert 10G 

Joliet, the traveler 6 

Mount Joliet 14 

Kankakee 1 

Keller, Rev. Isaac 105, 106, 108 

Kentucky Volunteers 32 

Kinsey & Mahler 121 

Kirkpatrick, James, death of 188, 190 

Knowlton, Lincoln B 237 

Lager Beer 146 

Lacroix 3 

Langworthy 227 

Lasalle, Monsieur 7 

Arrival at Peoria 8 

Goes back to Canada 22 

Returns 25 

Lawyers 231 

Now practicing in Peoria 238 



268 INDEX. 



Leach, Mr 240 

Lights 153 

Lightner, Hervey 215 

Livingston, Dr. Samuel 227 

Lowry, Samuel 104 to 108 

Mack, Rev. J. A 110 

Mackin, Rev. John 114 

Madison county established 51 

Maiilet, Hypolitc 27 

Maillet, John B 28, 49 

Manning, Julius 237 

.Manufacturers — Foundries and Machine-shops 119 

Marquette G, 7, 21 

Mason, William E 212 

Matteson, Gov. -Joel A 259 

May, William L 237 

McClallen, Charles W 212 

Mechanics' National Bank 2G0 

Merriman, II. 237 

Merz, Rev. J 114 

Methodists 102 

Michigan, Lake 1 

Mills, flouring 127 

Mills, saw 123 

Millwrights 146 

.Medical Society 228, 229 

Morron, Rev. J. II 107 

Moses, Ki.'v. Marx 118 

New-Jerusalem Church 116 

Newspapers 187 

Nicol, Burr & Co 120 

Nomaque, an Indian GO 

Old Settlers' Society organized 205 

List of Members 200 to 208 



INDEX. 269 



O'Rorke & Co 121 

Parkraan's discovery, etc 3 

Reference to his book 10, 11 

Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur railroad 151 

Peoria Lake 2, 22 

Peoria, Geography of 1 to 4 

Early History of 5 

Old village 22 

New village, La Ville de MaiUet 22, 49 

County established 52 

Town organized 66 

City organized 69 

Present city officars 78, 79 

Peoria and Oquawka Railroad 148 

Peters, Onslow 237 

Peters, William 120 

Pettengill, Moses. 104, 105, 108, 211, 212 

Pfeifer 215 

Phelps, William R 259 

Pickett, Thomas J 188 

Pickett, William, death of 188, 190 

Pike county established 52 

Pimiteoui 8, 48 

Plant Bros., Pratt & Co 127 

Plowmakers 123 

Population, at different times 199 

Pratt, Lorin G 126 

Presbyterians 103, 111 

Printing office destroyed 188 

Pullman, Rev. R. H 117 

Pulsifer S. & Co 260 

Purple, Norman H 237 

Railroads 147 

Rankin, John 129 to 132 



270 m>EX. 



Reynolds, Gov. John 33, 249 

Reynolds, William 108 

Reynolds & Smith 212 

Roman Catholics . Ill 

Rouse, Dr. Rudolphus 227 

Rupert, Gideon H 259 

Ruppelius, Michael 117 

Russell, Col 32 

Sanger, Ezra G 237 

Sash and doors 144 

Schools, private 84, 96 

Academy for young men 89 

For young women 90 

Present school system 92 

Officers at present 99 

Second National Bank 260 

Secret societies 118 

Snyder, Hon. Adam W 250, 252 

St. Clair, Gov 51 

Steamboats 157 

List of in 1851 160 

Stearns, Rev. G. F 11(5 

Stone 172 

Marshall P 260 

Supervisors, board of in 1850 58 

Tanners and Curriers 141 

Taxes, City . . 74, 75, 76 

Thompson, Sylvanus 136 

Tjaden, Rev. M. J 116 

Tobey & Anderson 125 

Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway 122, 150 

Tonti, flees to Green Bay 9 

Trees, Shade and Fruit 162- 

Underbill, Isaac. ...,.....,...,...., 181, 237, 241 



INDEX. 271 



Unitarians 117 

Universalists 116 

Voris & Brother (Francis and Abram) 210, 211 

Voris & Co. (S. Voris and H. T. Baldwin) 121 

Reportof Castings 122 

Voris Samuel 112, 121 

Walker, Rev. F. W 116 

Walker, George E 13 

Walker, Rev. Jesse 13, 100 

Walker & Lightner 215 

Walker, Mcllvaine & McClure 215 

Warner, Capt. Jude, fishes at Peoria 47 

Water 166 

Weatherl, Mr 125, 142 

Whittemore, Mr 125, 142 

Work, James H 212 

Young, Hon. Richard M. A good judge, because a good rider, 
and having a good horse ; U.S. Senator. His sun set in 
clouds 62, 64 

Zell, Philip 261 



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